It Happened At Hogwarts!
by Keiko Ezra Esther
Summary: What exactly happened at Hogwarts while Harry Potter & his friends were hunting Horcruxes? This story was developed through all the empty creative space that J.K.Rowling left open. I added myself and friends to it as well, ENJOY!
1. Chapter 1 The Hogwarts Express

_Hi! This is my first fan fiction type thing ever, so…here goes… It's about Harry Potter's Seventh year at Hogwarts, in which he doesn't attend, since he is too busy hunting Voldemort's Horcruxes with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. This story is about what happened at Hogwarts that horrible year, since it was run by Death Eaters. Well, it's just a fanfiction, so I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters, J.K. Rowling does. I do own the original characters, though. Enjoy the first chapter, it'll get better as I post!_

**IT HAPPENED AT HOGWARTS!**

_An account of the horrors of Hogwarts, the year Voldemort reigned…_

**Chapter One- The Hogwarts Express**

It was a dark, gray morning when the Hogwarts Express was set to depart from King's Cross Station. The bellowing clouds overhead threatened rain. Platform nine and three quarters was all abuzz, little eleven year old wizard and witches were scampering about, clutching owls in cages, and struggling to lift heavy trunks, full of spellbooks, potion ingredients, parchment, ink, and quills. Confused Muggles, struggling to understand why they saw hundreds of children holding owls in cages and checking them as baggage, also ran about.

The children said quick goodbyes to their parents. Most of them were terrified, yet excited at the idea of magic, as they were raised by Muggles themselves, or non-magic people.

Nick was starting his seventh and last year at Hogwarts, and, along with his friends, he was chosen a prefect of Ravenclaw house. The prefects shepherded the first years into the train, finding them compartments to sit in for the journey. As Nick looked on at the terrified little first-years, he remembered his own first day. Then he felt longing... The realization that this was his last, final year at Hogwarts dawned on him. Suddenly, he was broken out of his daydreams.

"Umm, where should I sit?" asked a little girl with red hair and rosy cheeks. "It looks like everywhere is full…"

She was looking up nervously at Nick. He looked at her and remembered how terrified he himself felt on his first time on the Hogwarts Express and said comfortingly, "You can sit with my friends and I. Would that make you feel better?"

"Oh yes! I'm so excited about Hogwarts, but I'm afraid too. I had no idea that there was such thing as magic…"

The two walked into the train, and found a nearby empty compartment. Empty, save only for one girl, who happened to be Laura Donovan, Nick's best friend. Laura was Nick's age, seventeen, and was starting her last and final year at Hogwarts also. She had already changed into her dark, simple Hogwarts robes. The Ravenclaw badge with the symbol of a raven was pinned neatly on her chest. A second, fancy pin was attached underneath it. It held a fancy "P", standing for prefect of course. She had deep brown eyes and a kind, dainty face. She was sitting on the red plushy seat, reading _Standard Book of Spells: Year Seven_. She stroked her brown hair in thought, then she looked up. Her eyes sparkled, and a true smile broke out on her face.

"Oh hi Nick, it's so great to see you, and oh, who's this?" she added, looking down at the young girl with the red hair.

"My name's Katrina," said the girl, "I'm starting Hogwarts this year!"

Laura smiled, "Come here Katrina, you can sit by me."

Nick sat down on the other side of Katrina.

"So Katrina," Laura asked, "are you excited about going to Hogwarts?"

The girls eyes grew wide, "Oh yes! Yes! I was so excited when I got the letter! My father's a milkman and my mother, a grocer, we had no idea about magic or Hogwarts or anything!"

"Wow," Laura replied. She was about to say something, but then stopped as the compartment door opened again. Nick and Laura's fellow seventh years Ian Szwidlo, Sarah Wardell, Jordan Fortin, and Dan Honeycutt walked in.

"Being a prefect is SO overrated," Ian spat, slamming his books down, "All we have to is herd those rude little bratty midge—" he glanced over at Katrina and grew red and stopped talking.

"Well," Jordan said, pushing Ian playfully down into a seat, "I think they're nice. And it's great that we can help them. She sat down next to Katrina.

Sarah caught Nick's glance and smiled an unspoken hello. She sat down opposite them in the compartment. Dan shot Ian an I-agree-with-you look, and sat down next to him.

"Have you read the Prophet lately?" Jordan asked, once they had all settled in. "All that junk about Dumbledore and his family?"

"Oh yes," said Laura, with a look of sour distaste on her face, "that Skeeter woman repulses me to the core. Look at all the bad things she wrote about Harry during the Triwizard Tournament. She's obviously a horrible lying person."

"My mom thinks she's great," said Ian, rolling his eyes, "Of course, she'll believe anything she hears about in _Witch Weekly_."

"Dumbledore was a great man," Nick said, "All he cared about was the safety and well-being of the students of Hogwarts."

"Yes," Laura nodded, "Harry's told us all about him, of course."

"And him too," Dan spoke up, "Did you hear? He's not coming to Hogwarts this year, says Dumbledore left him a 'secret mission'."

"Dan! Shhhh!" Jordan hissed, "We can't talk freely here, if they say You-Know-Who's infiltrated the Ministry, he's definitely gotten Hogwarts too…"

"That reminds me!" Nick said feverently. He pulled out today's _Daily Prophet_ from his bag, "Read the headline!"

Jordan gasped and read aloud, "Severous Snape, former master of Potions, head of Slytherin house had replaced Albus Dumbledore as headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! No!"

"No way," Laura said in an outrage. She snatched the paper from Jordan's hands, "No way! The other teachers, they won't stand for this! Snape _killed_ Dumbledore! That's just not right! Professor McGonagall was deputy headmistress, isn't she supposed to take over?"

"I don't think so," Nick said, "It's probably the Death Eaters, they've taken over the school! Maybe they've even killed McGonagall!"

"I don't believe it," Sarah spoke for the first time. She looked horrified, as pale as a ghost, "It's just not right. You can't put the last headmaster's _murderer _in charge of a _school_!"

Katrina had gone deathly white as well. She looked in horror from face to face. She then croaked, "W-what are y-you talking ab-b-bout…?"

Laura looked ashamed. "We're sorry, Katrina. Let's talk about you. Wow, Hogwarts is going to be a lot of fun for you, I'm sure!"

Katrina brightened, "Yes, I think so, but I don't know any magic. My family, we're normal. Maybe they sent me the letter by mistake…"

"Oh no, you'll be fine!" Jordan said, "loads of kids come from Muggle families, or families that aren't magic. In fact, Laura's like that, so is Ian." She nodded her heads toward Laura and Ian. Katrina looked comforted. Then, suddenly, Dan spoke up.

"But didn't you hear about that? The Ministry is setting up a 'Muggle Born Registration Committee'. I wouldn't be surprised if they rounded you up an—"

"Dan!" Laura snapped, "We'll be safe at school. They can't possibly…"

"They can and they will," Dan replied sadly, "I don't think Hogwarts will ever be the same ever since Dumbledore die—"

"Alright! That's really quite enough!" Jordan said, she grabbed a shocked and confused Katrina by the hand and rose to exit the compartment. "I'll be back. Let's find some friends for you, Katrina!"

After they left, Laura looked up shakily at Dan. "Do you really think they'll round up the Muggle-borns?"

He looked down at Laura's scared face, "It's already started."

"What about all the first years? And all the youngest students?" Sarah said, growing angry, "what will they do to them?"

"Round 'em up, same as the adults probably," Ian said harshly, "They'll know too much about magic, won't they?"

"They just can't let that happen! In a _school_!?" Sarah interjected. It was just like Sarah to put her faith in the establishment. "Where's the decency?"

"Gone," Nick said, "The Death Eaters and Voldemort have already—"

"DON'T SAY THE NAME!" Dan shouted, raising his fist angrily at Nick.

"Why not," Laura snapped again, "Harry uses it, everyone in the Order does, and Dumbledore used to say, 'fear of a name—"

"'Only increases fear for the thing itself', I know," Dan repeated mockingly."And you mentioned the Order, it's dead. You-Know-Who's already taken over, whether the Ministry admits it or not. There's no use fighting him anymore."

Ian looked at his friend, disgusted. "It'll never be over, look what happened years ago, when You-Know-Who was in power. The Order never stopped fighting, and he was defeated."

"Yes," Dan said stupidly, "By an infant and some sort of freak prophecy accident! And look how good that helped, he's back again and it hasn't even been twenty years!"

The friends looked anxiously at each other, and it appeared that no one had a retort for Dan. All of them were involved with the Order of the Phoenix in some way. Their parents had been involved in it, and then, once they became of age, they joined as well. That's how they became close friends with Harry Potter. At that moment, Jordan re-entered the compartment, closing the door quickly with a snap behind her.

"It's true," she said quietly, hoarsely, "That Rebecca George girl, the Slytherin with the bad attitude, she's been telling anyone who'll listen that two of You-Know-Who's Death Eaters are teaching in the school. And with Snape as the headmaster…"

"Which ones?" Laura looked nervous, but curious.

"The Carrow siblings," Jordan replied, "You heard of 'em?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. The others looked uncertain as well. Finally, Nick's eyes lit up.

"Yeah," He said, "I know about the bloke at least, Amycus. My father mentioned something about him. He was tried years ago, and sent to Azkaban, but obviously he's not there anymore…"

"The Order thinks there's been a mass breakout," Ian said, "but the Ministry's obviously trying to cover it up."

The rest of the journey passed in relative peace and comfort. The train sped past forests and streams, lakes, and fields. The friends spoke little to each other, save for the occasional "How was your summer?" or "What classes are you taking this year?". They all, to say the very least, were terrified at the thought of Hogwarts run by Snape and his fellow Death Eaters. When the Hogwarts Express pulled into the small, lonely village of Hogsmeade, it was nearly dark. The students clambered off the train. The half-giant gamekeeper, Hagrid, was shepherding the first-years onto little boats that would take them across the lake to Hogwarts. The older students found threstral-bound carriages to ride in. The friends, Laura, Nick, Ian, Dan, Sarah, and Jordan climbed into the carriage closest to them, which already housed two students, a Slytherin seventh year, Rebecca George, and a Gryffindor sixth year, Irene Sowa. Rebecca had a look of disgust on her face.

"Excuse me," she looked at Ian and Laura, with such a look of distaste, you may have thought she had been forced to eat rotting eggs, "but I don't want any of _their_ kind to sit in here."

"Then you can leave, Rebecca," Nick snapped, "no one really wants to be rewarded by _your_ presence either."

Rebecca looked around, defeated. She sighed, muttering something about being pureblood, and then exited the carriage. Irene looked over and rolled her eyes.

"Some people," she said, shaking her head.

The friends sat down and looked groggily out into the cold night, letting the wind grip their faces and rustle through their hair. Hogwarts could be seen, looming ahead. The tall castle's many rooms were lit by magical fires, and sparkled in wonder and awe. If they only knew what lay ahead...


	2. Chapter 2 Sorting & Feasting

Chapter Two- Feasting And Sorting

Chapter Two- Feasting And Sorting

Nick looked up at the black sky, illuminated by the hundreds of candles that were hovering below the Great Hall's ceiling. It was good to be back. The Hall was decorated handsomely for the traditional Welcoming Feast. The four house tables were set up as usual, and the colors of each house adorned them. He sat at the crowded Raven claw table, next to Laura and Ian. Empty gold plates and goblets were placed all around them, ready for a grand feast. The students were hungry and weary from the long trip from London to Hogwarts. Ian leaned it.

"Look at the staff table," he said, gesturing to the enormous table at the front of the four house tables, "I bet those are the Death Eaters…"

Nick peered his gaze upward. In the front sat Snipe, looking smug, obviously reveling in the fact that he was sitting in the grand seat of honor, which had been reserved for Dumbledore in all the years proceeding. Snape's greasy black hair was longer, and he seemed to have aged since the time that Nick had seen him last. He looked paler, more lined. On his right was an equally smug looking wizard with a pug-like face and equally dirty black hair. Nick was not familiar with him, leading him to believe he was Amycus Carrow, one of the Death Eaters who was teaching at the school this year. On Snape's left, an appalling fat old witch with long braided black hair and a face like a pig sat, looking vaguely out upon the students, as if she didn't know they were there. Nick concluded that this must be Amycus' sister.

The rest of the teachers were the same. Professor McGonagall sat beside Amycus' sister. She was eyeing the latter with a look of horrible disgust. McGonagall, as Nick knew, had openly supported Dumbledore, and was involved with the Order as well. At that moment, McGonagall promptly rose out of her seat and exited through a small door behind the staff table, presumably to fetch the first years for the Sorting, as she usually did. Next to Professor McGonagall's recently vacated seat sat Professor Flitwick, head of Ravenclaw house, a tiny little wizard with a large beard who taught Charms. Beside him, sat Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher and head of Huffelpuff House. She was an old, plumb and merry witch, with a kind face. She was wearing old robes and a giant worn and patched hat. Nick's eyes darted past the rest of the teachers. He glanced vaguely upon Professor Sinistra, the Astrology professor, Professor Vector, who taught Arithmacy, and Hagrid, who taught Care of Magical Creatures. He then turned to Laura.

"What do you think the Amycuses will teach?" he asked.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," she said automatically, "but wow…having a Death Eater teach us D.A.D.A. will be kind of…well…odd I guess."

Ian nodded in agreement, "What will the other one teach, do you suppose?"

Nick reflected back to something he read in last week's _Daily Prophet_, "You know," he said slowly, "I think I read something about the Muggle Studies teacher retiring. Do you think that's what they'll teach?"

"I don't know about that," Ian said, "I just wanna eat! Oh, come on! Where's that feast?!"

As if to answer Ian's pleas for food, the enormous wooden oak doors at the back of the Great Hall sprang open, and a herd of terrified looking first-years walked in, being led by Professor McGonagall. Nick watched them walk nervously to the front of the room. They stood in a giant clump facing an old patched and old hat. The first years stared nervously over to the hat on the stool. Suddenly, the brim of the hat opened wide and it burst into song:

"I am the Sorting Hat, made years and years ago,

Worn by ole' Gryffindor, even since I was sewn!

Once you place me on your head, I'll tell you were to go!

Houses? Yes there's four:

Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Huffelpuff and Gryffindor!

So come up here and have a seat,

No need to be shy.

I'll take a look inside your brain…

Ravenclaw? Clever?

Huffelpuff? Hard-working?

Slytherin? Ambitious?

Gryffindor? Brave and stout of heart?

Ohhhh! Put me on…

I'll tell you where you belong!"

As the hat stopped, the entire hall burst out into applause. Ian leaned over to Nick and Laura.

"Is it just me, or is the hat's songs getting lamer and lamer?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

Once the applause had ceased, Professor McGonagall addressed the terrified first years. "When I call your name," she said, "you will come up here and place the Sorting Hat on your head to be sorted. Then, you will go to the appropriate table. Now: let the Sorting begin!"

She glanced down at her clipboard and called out, "Braley, Krista!"

A small little girl, with mousy brown hair and two buck teeth departed slowly from her fellow crowd of first-years and walked shakily down to the Sorting Hat. She sat down, and Professor McGonagall placed the hat softly down on Krista's head. Immediately after touching her head, the hat cried out, "SLYTHERIN!" and then Krista ran to sit down at the table in the far left hand corner of the Great Hall which was all abuzz with applauding and cheers.

"Bubar, Brock!" McGonagall cried. A pudgy young boy with a shock of bright blond hair dashed up to the Hat and pulled it down over his ears. The hat took a moment to decide, and then cried out, "GRYFFINDOR!" There was a considerable amount of cheering from the Gryffindor table, and Brock raced over to sit down.

"Bowman, Rosalie!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

Nick and the other Ravenclaws cheered loudly as Rosalie scurried over and sat down at the end of the Ravenclaw table.

"Bradstreet, Austin!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Clark, Tiffany!"

"HUFFELPUFF!"

Nick could see Ian gazing mournfully at the empty plates and goblets in front of him and he suppressed a laugh. Laura was looking up at the Sorting. She turned to Nick and laughed, as the Hat declared "Davis, Justin" a Slytherin.

"Remember when the hat sorted _us_," she asked him, remembering, "and how much we were repulsed at the thought of getting into Slytherin?"

"Yeah," Nick said, "I seem to remember the old Hat reviewing all my qualities in my brain…it's a weird feeling…"

"Uh-huh," Laura agreed. Then she looked sad, "but I doubt the 'new _regime_'—" she gestured to Snape and the Carrows "— won't be too good to non-Slytherins…"

Nick nodded his approval and looked vaguely up at the Sorting. The hat was deciding on Denicola, Olivia. Finally, she was announced a Huffelpuff.

"Dorr, Taylor!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Errickson, Alyson!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Erskine, Zackary!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Graves, Rylee!"

"HUFFELPUFF!"

"Goshwark, Katrina!"

Nick's eyes darted to the little girl with rosy cheeks and red pigtails, which were pushed behind her as she ran over to the Sorting Hat.

"RAVENCLAW!"

Nick and Laura exchanged a glance of joy and then cheered loudly as Katrina ran excitedly down to the Ravenclaw table and sat next to Ian, Nick, and Laura.

"Hello!" she exclaimed joyfully, "Wow! I'm in Ravenclaw with you! I'm so excited! Is Ravenclaw a good house?"

Laura smiled, "The best one, in my opinion."

Katrina looked up at the Sorting Hat, which was now proclaiming that Kenney, Jahyra was a Slytherin. Then, she shuddered.

"I don't like that girl," Katrina said wearily, "she teased my friend Rosalie and I for not having magic parents. She said that if she was like us, she would have never even shown up for Hogwarts…"

Laura grimaced, "Don't listen to people like her. They're just like any other bullies, Katrina. I bet you'll even turn out to be just as good, if not better at magic than her!" Ian looked around.

"That makes since…Kenney…Kenney…that girl's older brother's a Death Eater, like their whole family…" he said grimly.

"Leeman, Chloe!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Moore, Dillon!"

"HUFFELPUFF!"

"Morris, Drew!"

"GRIFFYNDOR!"

The Sorting went on. It was longer this year, than any other year Nick remembered. It was after Osman, Tori; Palmer, Felicity; Plourde, Jesse had all been Sorted into Huffelpuff house, that Ian groaned once more. He muttered about something about food. Finally, however, the Sorting Hat was making its end…

"Rivers, Rachel!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Thibodeau, Gage!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Smith, Tiffany!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Southwick, Samuel!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Whitney, Jeffery!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

And finally: "Wilson, Bruce!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

The Sorting had ended, and tiny Professor Flitwick rose out of his seat and scurried over to fetch the Sorting Hat and its stool to take it out of the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and proceeded to her chair in the Staff Table. With this, Professor Snape rose and hissed at the crowd to be quiet. He then simply said, "It's time for the feast, now." And with that, the hundreds of empty goblets, dishes, and platters were magically filled with food before them. Many of the first years gasped in awe and little Katrina did a sort of jump off her chair in excitement.

Ian loaded up food greedily onto his plate, and stuffed his mouth full. Laura gave him a reproving look and then turned to her own plate. At that moment the ghosts of Hogwarts sprang up from the floor. Pearly white and transparent, they were the source of plenty of gasps from the younger students. A young ghost, fair, with silvery white hair wafted dreamily towards Nick, Laura, Ian, and Katrina.

"Hello," she said in a calm, soothing voice, "Welcome to Ravenclaw house, young one." She gestured towards Katrina. Katrina obviously didn't know what to say. She looked in shock at the ghost. The fair ghost obviously was accustomed to this kind of reaction, and she then looked at Nick, Laura, and Ian, who was completely unaware of her presence, he was too involved in his meal.

"Welcome back, my dear students," she said, "You are in your seventh years, I daresay?"

Laura smiled politely. "Why yes, Grey Lady, we are."

The Grey Lady smiled serenely, "Enjoy it, my dear children, enjoy it. Perhaps we will meet again some day as ghosts in this very place… And ah—" she noticed Ian, who was hogging away at his food and cast a dark look upon him. "Well, I best be off, more students to greet…" she faded away dreamily.

After the Grey Lady had left, Katrina questioned, "Umm…was she a _ghost_?!"

"Yes," Nick replied calmly, "she is. She's The Grey Lady. The ghost of Ravenclaw House." Then, noticing Katrina's lasting confusion, he added, "each house has a ghost. There's Nearly Headless Nick, Gryffindor's ghost and the Bloody Baron, he's the ghost of Slytherin and the—"

Nick's exclamation was cut off by the disappearance of the food and drink and the standing of Professor Snape. "The feast," he looked around menacingly, as if just waiting for someone to protest, "is over. I now wish to introduce you to our new faculty members, and to lay down some new—" he smirked "—rules… for this year."

The Hall quieted instantly. The many students looked at Snape with great interest. He then looked at them and continued.

"As you know, the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was vacated at the end of last year…Professor Amycus Carrow has generously agreed to take up this position. However, the curriclium for Defense Against the Dark Arts has now been modified into simply, The Dark Arts. As he spoke these words, the pug-faced ugly wizard next to him rose to his feet. He sat down as Snape stopped speaking and his sister rose. And then, continuing so fast, so that applause time or groaning was allowed, he droned, "Professor Carrow's sister, Alecto Carrow will be replacing Professor Burbage who so recently _retired_—" he put a small stress on the word "—at the end of last year. Professor Alecto Carrow will be teaching Muggle Studies, which is now mandatory for all students. The Carrows are also heads of Discipline this year. Whenever a student commits an offense, teachers will be asked to refer them to the Carrows.

"As always, the Forbidden Forest is forbidden for all students. Also, a new curfew will be in effect for this year: no students or teachers are allowed out of bed after nine o'clock. The curfew breaks at six o'clock a.m. Certain teachers will police the halls on their set nights, which have already been chosen for them."

(At this, Professor McGonagall gave a small gasp and looked as if she had been forced to swallow hot coals.)

"This measure is only to induce student and teacher safety. Now," he said, completing his speech, "it is time for bed. Prefects, take the first-years to your dormitories. Classes will resume tomorrow at eight o'clock."

The Great Hall erupted with noise and chaos as hundreds of students shuffled off to bed. Nick and Laura were yelling out, "Ravenclaws! Follow us!" When they passed the Gryffindor table, they could hear Ginny Weasley, a pretty girl with flaming red hair and freckles conversing mutinously with Neville Longbottom, a seventh year with black hair and a rather clumsy appearance. Nick knew, no doubt, that they were planning to undermine Snape's new regime in some way. Perhaps he would help, if it came to it. He, along with Laura, Jordan, Ian, Dan, and Sarah, along with many of their friends had been involved with Dumbledore's Army, when Harry was still in school.

Nick shuffled through the castle, leading the first-year Ravenclaws through the crowded halls, full of ghosts, students, and teachers. The first years, Katrina included, were pointing in excitement at the portraits that were waving and beaming down on them. When they entered the stone eagle that protected the Ravenclaw common room, it asked them, "Which came first? The phoenix or the flame?"

Laura then said smartly, "The circle has no end, I would say."

The stone eagle nodded its head in agreement. "Nice word choice," it said before opening up and revealing the Ravenclaw common room, which held beautiful glass windows that gave great views to the mountains and scenery of Hogwarts. A great statue of Rowena Ravenclaw was built in the center of the room. A comfortable fire was burning in the stone fireplace. Welcoming couches and armchairs sat placidly around the room. Laura led the girls up the spiral staircase on the left, while Nick took the boys on the left.

After the first-years had been settled in, Nick went up to his own four-poster bed and lay down. Ian was already in his bed, fast asleep. He hadn't even bothered to change into his pajamas, apparently. Before thinking of anything else, Nick laid down into his own bed and slowly began to drift off into sleep…


	3. Chapter 3 The Carrows

The sun rose early that morning, and flooded the grounds of Hogwarts in vast, gleaming brightness. Nick rose groggily from his warm, comforting bed and quickly changed into his school robes, while taking great care in not rousing Ian, who was fast asleep. Nick walked over to his trunk and quickly unpacked the necessities, such as books, quills and ink and left the room as swiftly as he had woken up.

It was a good thing, he thought, to get an early start to the first day of classes. He headed down to the Great Hall, clutching his schoolbag. The Hall was mainly empty, save for a few students, here and there that had chosen to wake up early and get a head start on studying. Laura, Jordan, and Dan were not to be found. Instead, Nick walked over to the Slytherin table, where a seventh year girl with tan skin and dark hair was sitting, pouring over a book, looking quite bored.

"Hello," Nick greeted her, "couldn't sleep, Demelza? It's not like you to get up three hours before classes start to study…"

Demelza laughed, pushing her hair out of her face. "Good morning to you too," she said, "I only left because that _insect_ Pansy Parkinson and her boyfriend—" she rolled her eyes in disgust "—Malfoy kept going on and on about blood status and that junk."

Nick looked up at her darkly. "Do you really think…at _Hogwarts_?!"

"I don't know," Demelza said sadly, "I think _they_ think that Professor Snape'll expel the Muggle-borns, if that's _all_ he'll do anyway."

"Arithmacy?" Nick asked, looking over Demelza's shoulder at the book she clutched in her hands.

"Yes," Demelza said, "I'm taking it because Professor Snape recommended it. Actually, I think it looks _dreadfully_ hard to tell you the truth. I _was_ going to take Wandlore as well, as an elective, but then they replaced it with Muggle studies."

"Yeah," Nick agreed, "They etched out my Ancient Runes for that. But, come on, a _Death Eater _teaching about Muggles?! That should be…well…interesting, I suppose."

Demelza nodded. She slammed _Arithmacy: Wizarding Mathematics_ shut and put it neatly into her bag. She then rose. "Well, I'll see you in Muggle studies, probably, Nick, lots of the seventh years have it at the same time. I said I'd meet Katie for some breakfast on the grounds. Bye!"

"Yeah, see you," Nick called after her as she left the Hall. He turned to walk over to the Ravenclaw table, but a girl with flaming red hair called out his name.

"Nick," gasped Ginny Weasley, "hi. Can you come to a D.A. meeting tonight, do you think?"

Nick looked at her reprovingly, "Ginny, I don't really know if we should… I mean, it would be _loads_ more trouble now if we got caught, not like before…"

"Come _on_," Ginny snapped, "There's all the more reason to do it now that he's back, and Snape's headmaster of the school. We need to train and be ready for when it's time to fight!"

"Fight!? At Hogwarts!? Ginny, it's a school. We're completely safe here, I'm sure."

Ginny looked scandalized. "Actually," she said, "it's not safe. I overheard the new Death Eater teachers, you know, the Amycus siblings talking about how they are planning to check the blood-status of all the students!"

"Ginny," Nick said, "There are rules, _laws_ really that govern Hogwarts and the things that go on. I don't think that—"

"Fine," Ginny snarled, "You'll join sooner or later, and don't say I didn't warn you."

She turned her heels and strode out of the Hall, swearing angrily at some frightened first-years who yelped and ran to their House tables. Nick looked out on her nervously. What if she was right? Would Voldemort go to the extreme and destroy the ancient laws that governed Hogwarts? The laws that had been established by the founders themselves?

The morning passed by uneventfully. Nick sat, quite alone, at the Ravenclaw table, pouring over his schoolbooks, and trying to grasp the many theories of Arithmacy and learning the essentials of a Blasting Charm. Soon, Laura and Ian descended quietly into their seats beside him and loaded their plates with toast and eggs, which had recently appeared on gold platters.

"So," Laura asked, while spreading honey and jam on a piece of toast, "What do you have for a first class?"

"Muggle Studies," Nick said immediately, having already memorized his schedule. Laura nodded in agreement.

"Me too," she said, "and Ian's got it too."

Several first years gasped as hundreds of owls of every shape, color, and size swooped down from the rafters and landed noiselessly on the tables, delivering letters to the students. A handsome brown screech owl swooped down next to Laura. She unfastened today's _Daily Prophet_ from the owl's talons. She scanned the headlines earnestly.

"Anything new?" Ian asked, taking a bite of his poached eggs.

"Hmmm…nothing really," Laura replied, "There's been a few more arrests, and oh! How horrible!"

"What is it?" Nick asked quickly.

"It's Madam Malkan, you know the—"

"Witch that owns the tailor shop in Diagon Alley, yeah, what happened?" Ian interrupted.

"She's missing. Her store was empty, no sign of a struggle. Hmmm, it says Arthur Weasley is investigating her store for any Dark objects…" Laura finished.

"How awful," Jordan said, "My mum's friends with her." She had walked over from the Hufflepuff table to sit by her friends. Irene Sowa, the student from their compartment, was with her.

"'Mornin'," Irene said with a yawn.

"Good morning, Irene," Nick said politely, "I must say that I'm glad to see you, I thought your parents weren't going to send you."

"They weren't," Irene said, "but the Ministry's made it mandatory now. I'm glad anyway though. It would be dreadfully boring being taught at home."

"I bet," Ian agreed.

After a lengthy yet mundane breakfast, Nick, Laura, Ian, Jordan, and Irene scurried off to Muggle Studies, which was being held on the first floor.

"You'll love it," Jordan was saying, who had taken the class before, "It's really interesting seeing how Muggles live without magic, quite inspiring really! Professor Burbage was a great teacher, it's a shame she retired."

The room was enormous. About fifty desks were set up in straight lines throughout the room. They sat down together, near the back of the room, and waited for the classroom to fill up. Once the students were all inside, the ugly witch with a face like a pug and stringy black hair that hung placidly from her peeling scalp strode into the room and slammed the door behind her with a lazy flick of her wand. She walked to the front of the room.

"Before we begin," Alecto Amycus snarled, "I would like to draw your attention to some new _rules_. First of all, I would like you to sit by House."

The room was filled with scraping chairs and desks as the fifty students clambered over to sit with their House.

"Quickly now, hurry up," snapped Professor Amycus. Then, once all the students were settled, she continued, "Secondly, I would like all Muggle-borns to sit in the back of your house tables. Half-bloods will sit in the center, and lastly, purebloods will sit in the front."

Many of the Muggle-borns looked terrified as they departed their friends reluctantly and moved to the back of the classroom. Laura looked hurt and accompanied Ian to the back of the Ravenclaw table. Several students cast Professor Amycus looks of disgust, which she only smirked at in response. Soon, she opened her mouth to continue once more.

"Thirdly," she snarled, "Mudbloods—" she gestured at the Muggle-borns sitting obediently in the back of the room and smirked once more as they flinched at her language "—will not answer any of the questions I pose to the class, and talking will _not_ be tolerated at _all_. Now, let us begin today's lesson."

She flicked her wand again and old photographs appeared on the board. They included fierce, violent looking Muggles dressed in traditional army gear, brandishing long, threatening weapons and sharp blades.

"For as long as time has been in existence," Professor Carrow began, "Muggles have loathed the entire Wizarding world. It all began centuries upon centuries ago, when Wizards lived freely among Muggles. Being naturally murderous and violent, they attacked the Wizards, torturing and murdering them with crude weapons whose sole purpose was invented to inflict pain. They were jealous, you see, of the magic that wizards could call upon. They murdered more than half of the Wizarding community. The remaining witches and wizards were forced to flee, and live in hiding. They did so for so long that the murderous Muggles forgot that they even existed.

"Muggles," she said with hatred, "are scum. Rats and filth. Their only purpose, as it has always been is to kill. Torture. Make pain. These weapons," she pointed at the guns that the Muggle soldiers were carrying, "are called guns. They are brutal weapons that the Muggles have invented. They kill, that is their only purpose. So now," she motioned to the class, "you will read the first five chapters in your textbook. Now."

As she said this, she whipped her wand around once more and fifty hew hardbound books appeared out of thin air. When she flicked her wand once more, the books flew obediently onto the desks of each student. Nick looked down at his book. It was entitled, _The Muggle Infestation & How to Protect Yourself_. It was bound in sickening black leather and had an illustration of a Muggle beating a young witch with a gun. Nick felt sick as he read the first few pages. The book was littered with propaganda and hatred towards Muggles. He glanced quickly around at his friends to see how they were taking it. Laura, whose parents were Muggles looked as if she could murder Professor Carrow right there on the spot. Ian shared the same facial expressions as well. Jordan was staring at the book, but obviously not reading its text and Demelza was quietly conversing mutinously with one of her friends. Demelza's fellow pureblood Slytherins, however, were nodding in silent agreement at the book's words. Draco Malfoy was regarding the book very intensely and it was clear to see that Pansy Parkinson thought this to be the best book ever written.

Nick caught Professor Amycus' angry gaze, however and he quickly returned to the text. The class passed slowly, but by the time it had finished, Nick slammed _The Muggle Infestation & How to Protect Yourself_ deeply into his bag and rose to exit, hearing Professor Amycus shout after the class: "Homework! Foot long essay concerning the ancient Wizard-Muggle wars and their causes!"

"That," Ian spat as they left the classroom, "was probably the _worst_ class I've ever had to endure. She made Umbridge look _tame_."

"I'm seeing Professor McGonagall _immediately_," Laura agreed, "someone has to do _something_ about that hideously evil Carrow woman. I don't care what I have to do to—"

"Please be _quiet_!" Demelza pleaded, running up to Laura from the Slytherin table, "I know it was dreadful, but there's no telling what kind of Dark security sensors or spyglass she's got installed. That could be the last thing you'll ever say…"

"Oh, and I suppose your just _saying_ that because you love the old Death Eater yourself, Demelza. Oh, don't think I didn't see you talking with those other Slytherins about how great she was," Ian snarled.

Demelza looked scandalized. "For your _information_," she said, looking a little hurt, but a lot more enraged, "we were talking about how evil she was, and how to fight back. You can't be such a _cynic_ and stereotype all the time! Some of the Slytherin's aren't—"

"That bad?" Ian finished for her, rolling her eyes, "Well, Demelza for _your_ information, half the Slytherin's parents are Death Eaters, and you kno—"

"Just because I'm in Slytherin," Demelza screeched, "doesn't mean that I'm like the rest of them! My parents are _not_ Death Eaters—" she then lowered her voice and looked over her shoulder "—they work for the Order, you _know_ that, Ian!"

Ian had no retort, so Demelza continued, this time with a note of comfort in her voice, "Now look," she said, "I know it was hard for you to hear all that junk about Muggles, but it'll get better. It _has_ too. Ginny approached me this morning about possibly restarting the D.A. I think we better do it."

Nick nodded in agreement, "You're right. We probably need that more than ever now." He looked over to Jordan, Irene and Laura expectantly.

They each nodded. "I'll tell Dan and the rest of the Hufflepuffs," Jordan said, "tell Ginny, won't you, that we'll do it?"

"I will," Demelza said, "I've got a free period next, I said I'd meet her in the library to discuss it. See you later." She looked around encouragingly and then bustled off for the library.

"We'd better get going," Laura said, "I've got Charms, don't want to be late, being the first day and all…"

The Charms classroom was nearly full when Nick and Laura arrived for their lesson. Tiny old Professor Flitwick gave a curt nod to them when they entered the classroom. Much unlike the cold, harsh manner in which Professor Amycus instructed, Professor Flitwick began squeakily, "Time for school once again, isn't it? Well, this is your final year in Hogwarts, and you should savor every moment of it." He sounded a lot like the Grey Lady, Nick thought. "Special N.E.W.T. testing will take place at the end of the year, for all students that have applied themselves over the past two years in these difficult classes. There will be a great deal of coursework this year, as you will find the N.E.W.T. tests are quite a bit harder than your O.W.L.s." He shifted a little on his pile of books he was standing on top of. "You will need to pay twice as much attention as before. Today, we will be starting with the Concealment Charm. If you would please open your books to page twenty-seven, yes I believe that is the page at least…"

Once the class had been broken up into groups, and they had been given small rocks to Conceal, Nick started talking with Laura about the difficult N.E.W.T. testing which they were about to endure at the end of the year.

"I'm so scared," Laura said, "Flitwick rarely gives anything _that_ challenging though, so I think it'll be okay…_Concealio!_"

Laura's rocks grew pale, but they had not achieved invisibility. "Oh… this is hard…"

"Yeah," Nick agreed, "_Concealio!_"

Immediately, his rocks disappeared from view. Professor Flitwick came over excitedly.

"Oh good work! Good work!" he squeaked, "fifteen points to Ravenclaw! Now that you've got the verbal spell, Mr. Southwick, you can now please try the nonverbal."

Flitwick stumbled away quickly to extinguish a rather large fire that a rather clumsy Hufflepuff, Jade Morse, had started and was now catching fire herself, after trying desperately to stamp it out.

Professor Flitwick looked annoyed, "Six years of magical education! And you forget your holding a wand! _Augumenti_," he said calmly and the fire was extinguished immediately by the misty stream of water that was emulating from the tip of his wand.

Laura chuckled and turned back to her rocks and Nick. "_Concealio_," she said again, and this time, the rocks disappeared.

It appeared that Professor Flitwick was correct in saying that there would be a great deal more coursework. After spending half the class on Concealment Charms, they moved on to Flame-Freezing Charms, which Professor Flitwick comically explained were invented by witches who used them to freeze the flames that were meant to burn them at the stake during the Salem witch trials, and that they then simply pretended to scream and die from the flames. The Flame-Freezing Charms had proven themselves to be just as difficult as the Concealment Charms, if not harder, and by the end of the class, only Laura and Nick had been able to successfully freeze the flames of the small fires Professor Flitwick had conjured up in front of them.

The seventh years departed, disgruntled from the Charms classroom and down the corridors to their final class before lunch. Laura bade goodbye to Nick as she departed to the Dungeons for potions, and Nick climbed the stairs to the Transfiguration classroom.

It had transpired that Professor Flitwick was not alone in saying there would be a great deal more work this year. Professor McGonagall did not start the class until she had elaborated on the importance of N.E.W.T.s for at least a half an hour. They were beginning to work on Conjuring Spells, which proved easily to be the most difficult subject to learn ever, in all six previous years.

"Conjuring Spells," Professor McGonagall was saying, "Are not strictly Transfiguration-based…"

"Then why _teach_ them," Ian whispered to Nick, rolling his eyes. He smirked.

McGonagall went on, "They are used to conjure up desired items from, well…_thin air_, that is to say they have not previously been in existence. But do not be discouraged if you do not get any results on the first try. There are many adult wizards and witches that cannot do them properly. There are a variety of well-known and heavily used incantations for Conjuring Spells, each with slightly different results, but the most common is _Adveho hic_." She tapped her wand on her desk and a fat, plump chocolate cake appeared almost instantly. "Now, you try. Focus your might on any small, inanimate object and recite: _Adveho hic_!"

There was a loud murmuring of these words to little result. Professor McGonagall had succeeded in Conjuring another cake, this time, however, it was vanilla. The class left Transfiguration with an essay to write on the Principals of Conjuring and to read the first chapter of _Advance Transfiguration_.

Nick descended down the staircase to the Great Hall for lunch, with Ian at his heels. He felt determined to learn Conjuring Spells as soon as possible, whereas Ian merely shrugged. "Heck," he said, "if not many adult wizards can do them, why should I?"

The Great Hall was overcrowded when they arrived. The staff table was filling up. To Nick's disgust, Professor Alecto Amycus was already there, conversing with her brother, looking quite disgusted herself. Snape was sitting in the Headmaster chair, looking out pridefully out on his students. To Nick's surprise, Demelza, Irene, Jordan, Dan, and Ginny were already sitting at the Ravenclaw table with Laura, waiting for Nick and Ian. As soon as they approached, Ginny said quickly, "So, use your coins, they'll tell you when the next meetings are…"

"Ginny!" Nick said in alarm, "You shouldn't all be here! It'll look suspicious…"

"I know," Ginny said, "We're leaving now. You're in for the…D.A., aren't you?"

Nick dropped his voice, "Yes, of course."

Ginny smiled triumphantly, "I knew you would. I've got to go…Neville says he's looking for a place for us to meet and Luna's gotten a hold of some everlasting paint…I think a few 'Dumbledore's Army—Still Recruiting' signs will do Snape's regime some good…"

"NO!" Jordan, Nick, Laura, and Irene yelled at the same time.

"You mustn't Ginny, please," Laura begged, "We don't want to make trouble, and we want them to remain blissfully unaware of our intentions…"

"We don't want to take that route," Nick said, "that just screams 'teenage rebellion', and we want to make them _fear _us, don't you?"

"Fine," Ginny snapped, "we'll discuss it in the first meeting. See you there." She nodded curtly and left. Jordan, Dan, and Irene returned to the Hufflepuff table, after wishing them goodbye, and Demelza went back to the Slytherin table.

"I don't know if the D.A.'s gonna do a good job this time, though," Ian said doubtfully, "We're dealing with You-Know-Who's Death Eaters, not some Ministry hag."

"Oh, I think it's a good idea!" said a Ravenclaw sixth year girl with long, tangled blonde hair who was wearing a strange radish as a necklace. "I loved the D.A."

"We know, Luna," Ian said, "We were just thinking—"

"It will be fun," said Laura, cutting across him, "how have you been, Luna? How's _The Quibbler_?"

Luna smiled and nodded enthusiastically. Her father published a slightly odd magazine that had rather…_different_ viewpoints about the Wizarding community.

"It's going great," she replied, "_The Quibbler_ is circulating quite well, actually. Daddy's very pleased. We've been talking about Harry a lot… Oh, Ian!" she said loudly, "I think I smell a Wrakspurt around you…hold on…" she waved her arms up and smacked Ian's head hard.

"Hey!" he recoiled immediately, "what was that for?"

"I got it!" Luna replied happily, "Wrakspurts are invisible little fly-like creatures that like to burrow into human brains. I thought I saw one on you… Well, I have to go, Charms class, you know!"

Luna rose brightly and left. Nick noticed two fourth-year boys yelling "Looney, where're you going?" after her and then roaring with laughter. Nick shouted after them angrily, happy to inform them of his prefect status.

As he returned to his table, he saw Laura reading _The Standard Book of Spells Grade Seven_, as was trying to do a Drought Charm.

"I think we've got to learn these next," she informed Nick as he sat down. She pointed her wand at Ian's pumpkin juice and muttered, "_Sitis!_"

Immediately, Ian's goblet was emptied. Unknowingly, he put it to his mouth and then cried out in shock, "Hey!"

Laura and Nick roared with laugher, cleaned their plates, and left the Hall to go to their afternoon classes.


	4. Chapter 4 DA Duels

Hey

Hey! So that's been the story so far…hope you're enjoying it. I'm rather pleased with it myself. Who knew fan fiction would be so much fun? I just want to take this opportunity to explain that all the spells and charms mentioned so far in the last three chapters have all, to some degree, been invented by me. I created the incantations by looking up old Latin and Greek words and sometimes combining them together. Well…enjoy!

The afternoon classes, as it transpired, flew by. Professors Sinistra, Slughorn, and Vector piled on huge amounts of homework, after stressing the importance of N.E.W.T. level courses.

"N.E.W.T.s," Professor Sinistra explained during Astronomy, "are extremely important. They will determine the jobs that you will have after leaving school. Desired careers are often forcibly changed, much to the disliking of the hopeful students. These _difficult_ situations can easily be avoided if students make studying their highest priority during their final years at Hogwarts…"

The seventh years were given so much homework that even such schoolwork loving students like Nick and Laura were exhausted when they reached their final class of the day: Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Oh," Laura moaned, "Now we've got to put up with that hag's brother…"

"It'll be fine," Nick said, grasping her arm firmly, "just sit by me."

The classroom was a mirror image of the Muggle Studies room, save for there were only about twenty-five desks instead of about fifty. Dark objects were hanging from the walls, and sitting on desks across the room. Nick thought, faintly, that the room reminded him of Borgin and Burkes, a Dark object seller located in Knockturn Alley. Professor Amycus Carrow was almost a mirror image of his sister also. He was a tall, intimidating wizard with untidy stringy black hair and a face like a pug.

"In," he hissed, "take a seat, all of you."

The students darted to find seats. Surprisingly, he did not alter their seating arrangements due to blood-status, as his sister had. Instead, he began speaking directly to the class immediately.

"The Dark Arts are an art form," he said passionately, "they have been created by wizards who have sacrificed themselves to digging deeper into the world of magic, in order to benefit the greater good. In each of your previous years, I believe you have been taught _Defense_ Against the Dark Arts. Now," he sneered, "you will be taught the _Dark Arts_ themselves. The new _administration_ has deemed this necessary."

Nick thought immediately of Snape and his murderous ways. The new _administration_ was right, seeing as Snape single-handedly murdered the last one. Teaching the Dark Arts themselves reminded him of Durmstang, another wizarding school which specialized in the Dark Arts.

"Take out your books and read the first chapter on the Unforgiveable Curses," Professor Carrow snapped, "A foot and a half long essay summing up the chapter will be due tomorrow."

The class passed quite uneventfully. The textbook, _Dark Arts Revealed_, was just as evil and disturbing as Nick thought it would be. Each page gave long descriptions about the most gruesome spells, jinxes, and curses imaginable. It was repulsive, really. The first chapter, as Professor Carrow had explained, was indeed containing information about the three Unforgiveable Curses. There was even a small paragraph explaining the unjust illegalization of them. There were hideous illustrations as well, of wizards and witches whose bodies were twisted and broken, screaming in pain, resulting from the Cruciatus Curse. On the page opposite, was a dreary, glassy eyed wizard, bowing down to a figure in a dark cloak, obviously representing the Imperious Curse. Opposite that, was simply a skull, to represent the final curse, the Killing Curse or simply _Avada Kedavra_. Of course, Nick and his friends knew all about these curses, having been taught them in their fourth year by a crazed old Death Eater, who was impersonating their teacher.

Nick thought he saw Neville Longbottom, a rather pudgy, forgetful boy shaking with anger as he read the caption on the Cruciatus Curse. Neville's parents, as Nick discovered last year, were tortured into insanity through this very same curse, by Voldemort's Death Eaters.

After the class had ended, the students filed miserably out of the classroom and to the Great Hall for lunch.

"Honestly," Laura said, "What are they playing at, teaching us the Dark Arts? The Unforgiveable Curses are _illegal_."

Nick shrugged, "Not sure, but we've got a load of homework tonight, huh?"

"Yes," Laura said, "I s'pose we do…"

"Laura-NICK!" a voice shouted from behind them. The large figure of Neville Longbottom came dashing up to them. He stopped for a second, to catch his breath. Then, he continued, in hushed and hoarse tones.

"I've found a place to meet," he glanced down at them, "for the D.A., I mean. It's the Room of Requirement again, it appeared!"

"Neville," Laura looked very wary, "I don't think we should trust that room again, look what it did fifth year…it revealed itself to Umbridge, Malfoy and the others…it's a wonder we got away…"

"It won't be like that this time," Neville reassured them, "I found it during lunch, I heard Professor Carrow coming up the stairs, and I didn't think she would be too pleased to find me all alone on the sixth floor during the lunch period, and it appeared, so I could hide!"

Nick spoke quickly, to stamp out Laura's skepticism, "Sure, Neville. What time?"

"We were thinking right after supper, if that's alright…"

"Good," Nick answered, "we'll be there, and I'll tell the others."

Neville beamed at him and scurried away. Laura looked quite angry.

"Nick," she snarled, "do you _know_ how much homework we've got tonight? If we get caught this time, it'll be a _whole_ lot worse than expulsion or detention, the Carrows are in charge of discipline, it could mean the Cruciatus Curse!"

"Fine," Nick said, with an air of finality, "You can stay in the Common Room and do your homework, I'll tell you what went on at the meeting, then."

Before Laura could reply, he walked swiftly to the Hall, with Laura following reluctantly behind him. The Hall was already crowded when they arrived. The younger students had already joined in the feasting, while the older students shepherded them to their seats. They sat down next to Ian, who was in conversation with Katrina, who was sitting next to him, isolated from any fellow first years.

"Hi," she said excitedly when Nick and Laura slung their bags over their shoulders and sat down, "I had such a great day! I learned how to make things fly!" she said proudly.

"Good job," Laura said, smiling, "it'll only get more exciting." She pulled out her textbooks, and shoved her plate of food aside, taking only a small nibble from a piece of chicken. She dipped her quill in ink, and began scribbling furiously on a black piece of parchment, which she had just summoned from her bag.

"That Slughorn's essay? The one about poisons?" Ian interjected, while loading his plate.

Laura merely nodded while she opened _Advanced Potion-Making_ and took notes.

"There's a D.A. meeting tonight," Nick said quietly to Ian.

He nodded, "I know, Demelza told me in Charms. You two going?"

"I am," Nick replied, "Laura says she's got homework."

Ian rolled his eyes, "We've _all_ got homework, Laura, but battling You-Know-Who's a little bit more important, don't you think?"

Laura looked up from her book, "Just because _you_ have already accepted that you're failing your N.E.W.T.s, doesn't mean that I have." She scowled at him and resumed her scribbling. Nick gave Ian a rather sympathetic look and turned his attention back to his dinner.

After dinner, Ian and Nick met with Jordan, Irene, Sarah, and Dan, who were waiting for them at the Hall's great oak doors, and they scurried off to the sixth floor, and hurried through a giant handsome looking wood door, which held the entrance to the Room of Requirement. The rest of the D.A. were already assembled. Demelza was shooting miniature fireworks out of the tip of her wand, much to the amusement of Luna, Neville and Ginny, who eagerly clapped for more. Nick looked around at the small crowd of people, half-hoping that Laura had changed her mind and showed up after all. There were about thirty-five to forty of them present. Pavarti Patil, her twin Padma, and their friend Lavender Brown were conversing with an air of distress in the corner of the room. Seamus Finigann, a Gryffindor seventh year with untidy mousy black hair was talking to a group of Ravenclaw boys. Nick was pleased to see that his friends Christina Clewley, a pretty Gryffindor seventh year with long, wavy blonde hair and Sarah Doucette, a short Hufflepuff sixth year with long, trailing straight blonde hair and a kind, joyful face, were practicing Stunning Spells with some cushions that (moments ago) had been stacked neatly in a pyramid structure.

The rest of the D.A. were already practicing jinxes and curses. Once Nick and the others arrived, Neville, Ginny, and Luna walked to the front of the room. Ginny raised her hand and the room quieted.

"I think," she started slowly, "that it would be a great idea to continue the D.A. this year. I know that we need it more than ever presently, with Death Eaters like the Carrows and Snape running the school. We should start with reviewing Stunning Spells, and other basic methods, before we move on. That should get us…warmed up, I think…"

As she spoke, the students obediently lined up with their chosen partners to practice. It was clearly discovered, however, that it had truly been a long summer. Many of the members were rather rusty at their spellwork. After successfully Stunning Jordan with a lazy flick of his wand, he glanced around to see the progress of his fellow students. Zoe Schnider, his fellow Ravenclaw seventh year was muttering "Stupefy" with great intensity, but nothing appeared to be happening to Kim Spencer, who stood completely still, bracing for the impact of a Stunner that never came. Brother and sister duo, Mary and Daniel DeLorenzo, were Stunning each other very well indeed, possibly fueled by their sibling rivalry.

"_Stupefy!_" screamed Jordan suddenly at the top of her lungs. Turing around quickly, Nick muttered, "_Protego!"_ out of the corner of his mouth, to deflect the jet of red light that Jordan sent his way. She swore loudly, as Nick Stunned her again.

To his right, Christina, who had progressed from verbalizing her Stunning Spell, sent jets of red light out at Sarah Doucette, who had been given no warning. She fell over, Stunned. Christina smiled happily and pointed her wand at Sarah's unconscious head, and said, "_Ennervate"_. Immediately, Sarah became conscious once more.

To Nick's right, Sarah Wardell appeared to be doing very well, sending luminous red lights out of her wand towards Dan, who was either doing very badly or was very unwilling to jinx her.

After they had re-mastered Stunning, they were told by Neville, to properly duel each other, using any curses, jinxes, charms, or spells that came to mind. Nick and Jordan bowed to each other and slowly walked away. Suddenly, each of them turned around and sent jinxes at each other. Nick's first jinx overcame Jordan's, but she managed to repel it at the last minute and yell, "_Ektopizo!_", which sent a giant wooden desk flying at Nick. A little shocked at her daring, but determined, nonetheless, Nick pointed his wand at the advancing desk and calmly stated, "_Avis!_". Instantly, the desk turned into a flock of blue and bright orange-colored birds that flew happily out the window, chirping noisily. Several of the students turned around to exclaim in awe over the birds, Jordan included.

Glancing around, Nick saw Mary's hair hanging messily from her head, and her robes ripped in various places, and singed and smoking as well. Her brother, Daniel held a very serious expression and he himself, supported some minor wounds and was missing an eyebrow.

The meeting was very interesting, to say the very least. They had to call their duels off momentarily, as Jade Morse, clumsy as she was, had managed to set the entire room on fire, as well as her hair. Quickly, several students rushed over to assist her, and after several cries of "_Augumenti!_", the fires were extinguished and the practice-dueling resumed.

Although Mary and Daniel's duel was extremely intense, Demelza and Ian's had been the most severe. They shot jets of light at each other with the fastest of wand-work almost everyone had seen. Everyone thought it was over, however, when Ian had Demelza trapped, tangled up in several hungry-looking carnivorous plants, but in the end, however, Demelza had succeeded in Transfiguring Ian into a pineapple, having narrowly escaped Transfiguration herself. After she was declared the victor from a unanimous agreement, she reluctantly muttered the countercurse and Ian appeared, with a scowl, where the pineapple had previously sat.

The evening grew into night, and none the D.A. members knew, or cared. The duels were drawing to a close, as the defeated and victorious students sat around to watch the remaining partners. Zoe and Kim, Nick, and Jordan, and Christina and Sarah were left in the end, and their dueling was met with cheers and jeers from the other students. Finally, Christina had managed to shake Sarah off with a nice Entrancing Enchantment, which was met with mixed approval by the crowd.

Kim had also triumphed over a very wet and disgruntled Zoe, after she apparently has summoned some water and creatures from the lake outside to zoom through the window and cover Zoe. After that, all of the students remained to watch the remainder of Nick and Jordan's duel.

Unaffected by the growing crowd, Nick shot a nasty Hives Hex at Jordan, who, at the last minute had been able to scream, "_Hex decline!_", which deflected the hex entirely. Jordan then, to the amusement of the crowd had successfully muttered, "_Invigoro!_" at Nick, who instantly grew long leeks out of his ears. Blushing a little, he managed to think up the counterjinx.

"CONJUNCTO!" Nick screamed, as a violet jet of light shot out from the tip of his wand to Jordan's eyes, that grew pink and puffy and shut immediately.

"I c-can't s-s-see…" Jordan whimpered, angry. Then, to finish it, Nick pointed his wand at the remaining birds that he had conjured before, and said, "_Oppungo!_" and watched triumphantly as they zoomed towards Jordan, attack her, and pecking sharply at wherever they could find flesh.

But Jordan was not done. "IMMOBULOUS!" she shrieked brandishing her wand violently through the air. The birds suddenly froze, immobilized, hanging helpessly in the air, by Jordan's well-thought spell. Still, however, Nick's Conjunctivitus Curse had done it's job, and she could not see. Before she could recover however, Nick sent a nonverbal Stunner (which of course, she could not see and had no way to deflect) her way, which did its job and thus declared Nick the victor.

Several of the D.A. members cheered as Nick awoke Jordan and muttered, "_Finite._", to rid her of the Conjunctivitus Curse. She opened her eyes, rubbing them and rolled her eyes in defeat, explaining sourly that if it hadn't been for Nick's Conjunctivitus Curse, she would have won.

"Well," Neville addressed the crowd of students, "I think that was a nice fun way to start this year of D.A. meetings. Hopefully none of us will leave here supporting major injuries…heh heh… So, with that—I guess we can lea—"

But Neville's dismissal was cut off by a silvery swan Patronus swept into the room, speaking to a stunned crowd, with the voice of Arthur Weasley, Ginny's father.

"Rufus Scrigemour is dead. The Ministry has fallen. Protect the Muggle-born students if you can, they are coming for them…"


	5. Chapter 5 The Flight of the Muggleborns

Chapter 5 – Flight of the Muggle-Borns Chapter 5 – Flight of the Muggle-Borns

As the Patronus dissolved into whispy silvery mist and then glided out of sight, the D.A. members stood silently, unmoving, transfixed in silent horror. It was not until several moments had gone by that murmurings and whispers were heard amongst the terrified students.

"STOP!" Neville cried loudly, "we don't have _any_ time to waste! We have to hurry! Go back to your dormitories and grab as many Muggle-born students as you can!"

"What!?" Zoe yelled in shock, "and then what? Where do we bring them…?"

"Bring them in here," Ginny said, it was the first time she had spoken. She was dead white, her flaming red hair clashed with her pale body, "bring them to the Room of Requirement…"

"How?!" whined Jade Morse, who had fallen against the wall, clutching it to support herself.

"Just do it!" Nick snapped, "we've got to run to our Common Rooms and grab as many Muggle-born kids as we can!"

"Yes," Demelza stood up next to him encouragingly, "last time Voldemort reigned, he either killed Muggle-borns or shipped them off to Azkaban. Hurry now, let's go!"

The students all ran to the Room of Requirement's doors and pushed out, skirting off into the dark, silent school. Nick and Ian ran in front, towards Ravenclaw tower, closely followed by their fellow Ravenclaws, Luna, Zoe, and to their surprise…Demelza.

"Where are you going?" Nick asked Demelza, as they ran, "What about the Slytherins?"

Demelza laughed, "There aren't _any_ Muggle-borns in Slytherin, and remember-" she looked over at Ian "—all their parents are _Death Eaters_ anyway… So I'll just help you in Ravenclaw…"

There were no further arguments, Nick led the way through the dark old school, ignoring the many paintings on the wall that woke up, annoyed at their flight, muttering things like, "Where's the fire…?" or yelling insults at them. Finally, the stone raven that held the entrance to Ravenclaw tower appeared up ahead by the dim moonlight that was cast from the large windows above them.

The stone raven awoke with a start, "What _are_ you doing up at _this_ hour?" I demanded rudely, then it cast a dirty glance at Demelza and added, "And _she's_ not even a Ravenclaw…"

"Never mind that," Nick snapped, "let us in!"

"Oh, fine… 'never mind that'…" the stone raven mocked, "Where do Vanished objects go?" it asked.

Many of them looked around, puzzled, even Nick, but before he could think of the right answer, to everyone's surprise, Demelza answered first, "Into nonbeing," she said promptly.

"Well, I guess it would be impossible for _all_ Slytherins to be brainless…" the stone raven retorted as it stepped aside to reveal the entrance to Ravenclaw tower.

The Common Room was dimly lit by the fire's last dying ashes that were smoldering in the grand fireplace. The handsome couches and armchairs were deserted, as were the tables, except for one, near the fire. Laura was sitting there, dozing off, her head in the spine of _Advanced Potion-Making_. There was ink splattered on her nose, and her Poison Essay hung loosely in her hand. She awoke with a start upon seeing Nick, Ian, and the rest standing over her.

"What—" Laura began groggily, but was cut off by Nick.

"Laura!" he said hoarsely, "the Ministry's fallen, Scrigemour is dead…Laura, Voldemort's taken over! Finally, like we all thought! There's no telling what he's already ordered the Carrows and Snape to do to the Muggle-borns already, we have to rouse them and leave immediately!"

Laura was now wide awake. She looked fearful, her eyes huge. "Now?" she asked faintly, "they're here…now?"

"Yes," Ian spoke up, "they're coming! Take Demelza, Zoe, and Luna up to the girls' dormitories and wake up all the Muggle-borns. If you don't know if they are or not, ask them, it's very important. Meet back here when you're done, we have to move quickly! The Carrows or Snape could be coming any minute!"

Without further questioning, Laura grabbed Demelza by the arm and led her and the others up the spiral staircase on the right and Nick and Ian ran over to the left staircase.

"Oi! Wake up!" Ian shouted, shaking some slumbering first years in the first four-poster that they entered. When Ian's attempts didn't work, Nick stepped in front of him.

"Hold on," he pushed Ian out of the way and grasped his wand, "_Noisurres!_" he shouted, and a very loud noise, like that of an exploding firework erupted from the tip of his wand. The first years woke up immediately, horrified of what they heard.

"What was…?" one of the first year boys started.

Nick stood up and addressed the Ravenclaws who were clambering down the dormitory steps to find out what the noise was.

"It is extremely important," Nick started, "that you listen to what I am about to tell you. Your survival may depend on it."

The tired Ravenclaws looked at him in shock and terror. Satisfied that he had their full attention, he continued:

"All of you that are Muggle-borns will kindly follow Ian and I down the stairs and to a place where you will be safe." To end further confused remarks on his words he added, "The Ministry of Magic has—" he stopped for a moment, and decided it would be best to not terrify them more in telling of Voldemort's takeover "—er—decided that Muggle-Borns should be taken to Azkaban, and Professor Snape and the Carrows are going to enforce—"

"Just follow us!" Ian snarled, pushing Nick out of the way and dashing down the stairs. Several of the students, who were Muggle-Born followed immediately, but many more stood, looking apprehensive and skeptical. Once all the students that willingly followed were assembled, Ian and Nick shepherded them down to the Common Room, where Laura, Demelza, Luna, and Zoe were embracing terrified first year girls who were whimpering and crying. Some of them were comforted as they raced over to meet their brothers, who followed obediently after Nick and Ian. Laura was hugging a bewildered and horrified Katrina, who clung desperately to Laura's leg, as if it were her lifeline.

Without further ado, they pushed the Common Room's door open quickly and raced out into the hallway. Upon turning the first corner, they could hear a faint voice, which was unmistakably that of Professor Alecto Amycus shout, "Oh come _on_, Amycus! We have to catch the Ravenclaw Mudbloods! The Common Room's this way"

Several of the younger Muggle-born students gave gasps and shrieks and ran faster. Laura, Nick could see, had a few tears streaming down her face. She was a Muggle-born as well…and Ian was too… How would they…? Nick immediately stopped this line of thinking and whispered, "Quiet! Please! Follow us!" to the small group of about twenty Ravenclaw Muggle-borns who were behind him.

They ran and ran until they saw a small candlelight appear in front of them and a small, squeaky little voice wheeze, "Hold on! Where are you running?"

"Flitwick!" Laura gasped at Nick. He nodded in agreement. Professor Flitwick, most likely, would not turn them over to the Death Eaters, but yet, they couldn't avoid him, as he was directly in front of them, blocking the way to the Room of Requirement, and safety. They had no choice but to talk with him.

"Professor!" Nick whispered hoarsely, "it's us. Please," he pleaded, "we have to get the Muggle-borns to safety! They're coming for them!"

Professor Flitwick, whose solemn face came into light by a small candle he had Conjured from his wand, nodded. To general surprise, he did not question further, but simply nodded his head once more and squeaked, "You know where you are going, I trust?"

Nick felt glorious relief sweep through his body, "Yes Professor, and _thank you_…"

We waved Nick's thanks away with a wave of his hand. "Go! Quick! I will head them off…"

So they resumed their flight to the Room of Requirement. By the time they had reached it, the Hufflepuffs were already assembled. Jordan looked at them frantically, "We just got here, our Common Room's the closest. I got as many kids as I could… I think most of the Muggle-borns had enough sense to follow, but I don't think some of them took us seriously…"

She motioned to a group of pajama-clad Hufflepuffs who sat nervously together on the cushions that Christina and Sarah had used to practice their Stunners before, during the D.A. meeting. One of them, a rather plump boy with a dull, low-pitched voice spoke up, "Umm…Jordan," he asked, "what about our things? Our trunks? Our owls?"

A few other Hufflepuffs nodded in agreement. "What matters," she said, a little angry, "is your safety. If possible, we'll bring your possessions to you later."

The Hufflepuffs fell silent and the pudgy boy who had questioned Jordan looked to the floor, embarrassed. The Ravenclaws sat next to the Hufflepuffs on the floor. Mary and Daniel attempted to cheer them up by Conjuring flowers and sparks out of their wands. Some of the first years were impressed and awed, but the older students continued to stare out into the darkness of the Room of Requirement in total horror. Katrina was still attached to Laura's leg. After a few more minutes, Jordan approached Nick asking, "Wow, wonder where the others are, it's been a half an hour almost…"

"They'll be fine," Nick comforted her, "it's a big castle, they could still be on their way…"

At that moment, the doors of the Room of Requirement burst open once more and Christina, Sarah, Jade, Irene, Pavarti, Lavender, Neville, Ginny, and Seamus walked in, followed by at least thirty-five young Gryffindors, all dressed in their pajamas.

"That's everyone…" Laura breathed in relief, "I was beginning to think…"

Neville cleared his throat. "I think," he said, "that we will have to stay here until we can find some way to smuggle the Muggle-borns out of the school…"

"Neville," Laura said, "how long do you think it will take the Carrows to find out that the Muggle-borns escaped and that we're still in the school?"

"Soon," Neville replied, "but in the meantime, I seem to have figured out a lot about this room, and it's magic. This—" he explained to the dumbstruck Muggle-borns who were not involved with the D.A. "—is the Room of Requirement. It changes itself to become whatever you need it to be, so, I am guessing that since we need to spend the night here…"

As he spoke, two more doorways at the end of the Room of Requirement opened. Ginny immediately investigated and then proclaimed in an awed, excited voice, "Beds! Two dormitories! A girls' and a boys'!"

Neville grinned and continued, "So, since we need to stay overnight, beds would appear, naturally. And perhaps—"

Immediately the multi-colored banners of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor appeared and after Demelza exclaimed, "Hey!", a Slytherin banner appeared as well. Several wooden tables appeared as well, underneath the banners. In the corner, bookshelves filled themselves with schoolbooks and such, and parchment and quills appeared on many desks, that were lined up neatly in rows.

Many of the students exclaimed in awe as the room rearranged itself before their eyes. "Awesome!" declared Brock Bubar, a pudgy young Gryffindor first year with a shock of bright blond hair.

Several of his friends gasped in awe and wonder. "It's so cool!" declared Tiffany Smith, a little Hufflepuff who was clinging to Jordan, as Katrina was to Laura.

"It's weird," Jade was explaining to Nikki Bouchard, a Gryffindor seventh year and Irene, "I needed to hide some…um…personal items once, and this room appeared, but it was full of other hidden things…"

After the Muggle-borns were done exclaiming over the room, Neville starting speaking once more. "You'll be safe here," he said, "but I think that everyone who isn't Muggle-born should leave and continue with school. They aren't after us."

Demelza nodded in agreement, "Yeah, we should stay and help the other students. And it will be useful to have some people on the outside, we can lure them away from the Room of Requirement if anything."

So, without further speaking, Nick followed Demelza and the other purebloods and half-bloods to the doors of the Room of Requirement. When he was close to leaving, however, Laura caught his arm. Ian was close behind her.

"Good luck," she said, "We'll be fine. If you can, will you bring my cat to me, I don't like to think about what the Carrows would do to her if they found out she belonged to a…Muggle-born…"

"And my owl," Ian asked, "could you bring her as well?"

"I'll try," Nick said sadly, "and I'll keep you posted on the classes as well, if you want."

Laura smiled half-heartedly and Ian laughed as Nick climbed out of the Room of Requirement and into the dark school. Although he was facing the roughest decisions and times of his life so far, he found comfort in the thought of Snape's face as the Carrows reported that the Muggle-born students of Hogwarts had managed to escape from right under his large, upturned, greasy nose…


	6. Chapter 6 The Death Eaters' Revenge

Chapter 6 – The Death Eaters' Revenge Chapter 6 – The Death Eaters' Revenge

Nick woke up that day, to a most glorious sunrise. Its crimson rays punctured through the high glass window that surrounded his four-poster bed. Beside him, sat a neatly made bed, that had obviously not been slept in last night. Nick sighed as the cold reality of last night's conflicts aroused in his sleepy memory. Ian's bed was empty, of course, because he had smuggled the Muggle-born Ravenclaws to the Room of Requirement, to escape the wrath of the evil Death Eaters, Alecto and Amycus Carrow and the equally venomous headmaster, Professor Snape.

Before his fellow roommates could woke up, Nick rose from his bed and quickly showered and dressed in his Hogwarts robes. Swiftly, he pinned his silver shining Prefect badge on his robes, wondering who would replace Laura as his fellow Ravenclaw prefect, and then departed from the dormitory and into the Common Room.

All around him, he could hear the yawns and groans of the many Ravenclaws that were awaking to the new day of classes, blissfully unaware that Lord Voldemort himself was controlling the Ministry of Magic, and that sooner or later, all who opposed him would be stamped out. Nick then swung his bag over his shoulder and set a brisk pace to the Great Hall for breakfast.

The Hall was gradually filling with students when he arrived. He glanced up at the staff table to see that the Carrows' and Snape's seats were vacant. Professor McGonagall looked tired, as her stringy hair was bursting out of her tight bun. She was conversing gravely with tiny Professor Flitwick, whom Nick was glad to see looked fine. It had been lucky, that Professor Flitwick had been able to help them in their flight the previous night. Nick chuckled to himself when he saw Professor Flitwick knock over the marmalade, which clashed deafeningly onto the marble floor. He looked shocked, perhaps Professor McGonagall had told him of Voldemort's takeover, as she worked closely with the Order of the Phoenix, and she would most certainly know.

"Nick, d'you reckon they're okay?" Zoe asked, leaning in towards him at the Ravenclaw table.

"Shhh!" Nick hushed and he leaned closer still, "we shouldn't talk—who knows who's spying for them…"

Zoe looked rather appalled. "Well, I'm going to visit them after breakfast I think. It's horrible, really." She stormed off before Nick could tell her differently. She had several pieces of toast in her hands, and also was able to smuggle some orange juice as well. That was the first time Nick thought about that. They would need something to eat, but it would look suspicious if several students were smuggling food out of the Hall during breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

As if it were a divine answer to his thoughts, Demelza rushed over to him. "Nick," she said desperately, "I just thought, shouldn't we bring the others some food?"

Before Nick could finish, Demelza scooped up the nearest platter of toast and marmalade. "I think we need only bring food," Demelza said thoughtfully, "they can get water using the _Augumenti_ charm…"

Nick looked at her reluctantly and then gave in, scooping up some hard-boiled eggs. They left the Hall very quickly, attempting to hide the food in their robes and in their bags, but there was simply too much of it.

"We could use the Concealment Charm," Nick supplied thoughtfully was they reached the first floor staircase.

"We could," Demelza replied, "but Flitwick never got around to teaching us how to make them visible again, didn't he?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Nick said gloomily, "What we really should do is hide a stash of food somewhere and tell them about it so they could do a Summoning Charm, once they knew where it was…"

"Yeah," Demelza agreed, "but it might look kind of fishy if random food items were zooming around the school…"

Again, Nick was outthought, but before he could brainstorm of more ideas to provide the Muggle-borns with food, a voice cried out sharply:

"Miss Ramirez! Mr. Southwick!"

Immediately Nick reeled around, fearing to become face to face with the Carrows, or worse: Snape, but instead Professor McGonagall walked briskly up to them.

"I suspect you know, then," she said, her voice dropping, "of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's takeover of the Ministry—" and without waiting for a response from either of them continued "—I would like to ask _where_ then, have you hidden the Muggle-borns?"

Nick looked around, helplessly at Demelza. "Professor," she began slowly, "how do you—"

"Honestly, do not expect me to teach teenagers for thirty-seven years and not know when they're up to something," she said, "I asked you a simple question. I think I may be able to help in some way. I do have some Order connections."

"They're in the Room of Requirement," Nick said at once, "on the sixth floor, you've heard of it, haven't you?"

Demelza looked appalled that he would trust this information with a teacher.

"Of course," Professor McGonagall said curtly, "I expected as much. I will do everything in my power to prevent our new _headmaster_—" she said those words like she was smelling a particular smelly skunk, "—and his advisors from gaining this knowledge. And oh, yes—" she added as an afterthought, "and you should really think twice before smuggling them some more food, I think the Carrows will look for signs like that."

As quickly as she had appeared, Professor McGonagall disappeared, while grabbing the food from Demelza's and Nick's robes and proceeding to the sixth floor.

"Wow," Demelza said, "I knew she worked for the Order, but then again, still…"

They proceeded to their Charms classroom, but on the way, they were immediately halted, after hearing a pleading, inhuman, bloodcurdling scream.

"Pleeeeaase— I don't know where they are!"

"You miserable little whelp, you know! And I will rip it from your mind, filthy little blood-traitor! CRUCIO!"

The pleading voice screamed again, writhing in pain and agony.

Demelza had a look of disgust, but curiosity on her scowling face. "C'mon," she whispered, "we have to see…"

Nick followed her, however reluctantly until they came to a small door, on it was marked in bold capital letters: 'aletco & amycus carrow – heads of discipline'.

"Shhh!" Demelza whispered as she leaned in towards the door. It was open just a crack and Nick peered through to see the faint outline of Amycus Carrow. His rather burly figure hid his captive who had ceased screaming once Amycus' Unforgiveable Curse had subsided.

"I will ask you one, last time," the hoarse voice of Amycus Carrow snarled, "_Where_ did you hide the Muggle-borns?"

"Even if I knew…" the voice shook, "I wouldn't tell _you_…"

"Very well," Amycus Carrow's voice shook as well, but Nick knew this to be out of frustration, rather than agony. "Then I shall fetch the Veriteserum and we will be done with these little…_games_. _Furnuncala_! _Silencio!_"

The second voice screamed and pleaded once more, and it was immediately extinguished. Ropes and chains wrapped around the figure as well, which went limp and fell, silent to the floor.

"Demelza!" Nick gasped. She was standing directly in the way of the door, and Amycus was about to depart of course… He snatched her by the hand and pulled her with all his might behind a particularly large suit of armor.

"What was _that _for," Demelza snarled, giving Nick a dirty look.

Nick ignored her and pushed her head behind the suit of armor while the Carrows' door was forced open and Amycus, brandishing his wand and wearing a look of deepest repulsion came sweeping out of the room and turned to proceed down the corridor into the dungeons.

Instantly, Nick ran into the deserted room, Demelza at his heels. Inside, a desk sat placidly in the corner, piled messily with books and quills. Directly underneath it sat a crumpled-up figure, bound in ropes and chains.

"_Diffindo!_" Demelza gasped, pointing her wand at the bound figure. The ropes immediately severed and fell away from the figure's limp form. Nick kneeled down and turned Amycus' captive over to reveal the unconscious face of Jordan Fortin.

"Jordan!" Nick gasped, but Demelza simply said:

"Nick, we've got to get her out of there, come _on_, before Amycus comes back…" Together they shifted Jordan up and pulled her out of Amycus' office and into the staircase.

"Should we take her to the Room of Requirement?" Nick asked.

"Yes," Demelza replied, "I s'pose we should…"

Before they could even ascend the entire staircase, however, Jordan feebly stirred. Her eyes opened slowly and she croaked weakly, "Nick…Demelza…how…?"

"We overheard _him_," Demelza explained, "that Death Eater, torturing you."

Jordan smiled half-heartedly, "It's a good thing you came when you did. He was going to get Truth Potion, and I would have told him everything…"

Along the way to the sixth floor and the Room of Requirement, Nick, Demelza, and Jordan met no problems, except for Peeves the Poltergeist who was wreaking havoc on the fourth floor corridor, smearing ink into Mr. Filch's (the caretaker) new white paint job. By the time Demelza and Nick reached their Charms classroom, and after giving hurried apologies of their lateness to Professor Flitwick, they chose seats next to each other and started working on the Imperturbable Charm.

"D'you reckon McGonagall will be able to help us," Demelza asked, after placing an expert Imperturbable Charm in the direction of the other students.

"Not sure," Nick replied, "she'll try at least. She's with the Order…"

"These'll come in handy," Demelza said, looking fondly at her wand as she declared, "_Operornon perago!_"

"Flitwick," Nick said warningly, and indeed tiny Professor Flitwick came hobbling over to inspect their progress. He did not look pleased, as poor Jade Morse had already managed to destroy his possessions beyond repair.

"Let's see them, then," Professor Flitwick said irritably.

When the bell rang to dismiss the students to lunch, the Carrows had obviously discovered Jordan's absence, for they looked murderous as their conniving eyes scanned the Hall. The students had filed in and sat down in their appropriate House tables, and looked down at their empty gold plates, expecting food to magically appear. When it did not, however, several of the students looked in confusion towards the staff table, where Professor Amycus Carrow rose, shaking with anger to his feet.

"Today," he snarled, "starting after lunch, all students fifth year and above will be called down individually during their classes to the Head of Disciplines' Office for questioning about certain—" he glanced at the Gryffindor table suspiciously "—_questionable_ activities. I must warn you now, that anyone who is found to be untruthful will be subjected to the Cruciatus Curse, or other means of truth-telling."

He sat down lazily in his seat, and Professor Snape shook his hand carelessly through the air, as the usual heaps of ham, chicken, and vegetables appeared on the empty platters. Typically, a buzz of hushed, panicked voices broke out through the Hall.

"The _Cruciatus_ Curse!? That's illegal!"

"They're Death Eaters, anyway, I don't think they care…"

"…d'you reckon they'll use the Imperious Curse too?"

"…yeah, or Veriteserum, probably, it works better…"

Jade Morse at the Hufflepuff table, was hyperventilating and whispering methods of torture concerning trolls, chimeras, and dragons. Nick could see that the Gryffindor table's faces looked the most nervous. Surely the Carrows would discover the members of the D.A. who were guilty, wouldn't they? They may as well pack their bags right now, or perhaps they would just be sent to Azkaban… And the Muggle-borns…Laura and the rest, what would they do to them, once they were discovered?

Zoe leaned in towards Nick's direction.

"What will we do?" she said shakily, completely unaware that she was emptying the entire bottle of ketchup, which had already seeped over her plate of potatoes and onto her robes.

"We just need to stay calm," Nick said firmly, and pointing his wand at her ketchup-stained robes, saying, "_Scrougify!_"

Instantly the ketchup vanished, and Zoe said, "Well, we could always lie, couldn't we?"

"We could," Nick replied, "but then again, if they have Veritaserum and all, we won't really have much of a chance."

"What we really need," Luna said, speaking for the first time, after loading her plate with ham and mash potatoes, "is an army of Gliglios."

"Oooohhh," Sarah Adams, a rather tall, gangly girl with short sandy-blonde hair, who was eavesdropping said, interested, "what are Giglios?"

"They're spirits of lightning," Luna said excitedly, "they could march right up to the Carrows and zap—"

"Ohhhhkay!" Zoe said loudly, "You had any of the peach cobbler, Sarah, it's great." And she immediately sat herself down between Luna and Sarah, heaping generous helpings of peach cobbler onto Sarah's already-full plate.

"I think what we _do_ need," a voice from behind Nick said, making him jump, "is a list of the students of the school."

He turned around to see Christina standing behind him, closely followed by Sarah Wardell.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked, budging aside to make room of them.

"We were just thinking," Sarah said, sitting down, shaking a little, "back at the Gryffindor table—well, it was Christina's idea, she'd better tell you…"

"The Carrows are new to the school, right?" Christina said, excited, "so they don't know any of us. They'll probably ask the Head of Houses for their House lists, so they know who to call in, won't they? Well, what if we—er—borrowed the House lists and _modified_ them so they didn't say the D.A. members' names?'

Sarah looked absolutely terrified at the idea, but she began slowly, "I think it'll work…McGonagall might even help us if she could, but she'd have to be secretive about it of course…"

"I don't know…" Nick said, "What if they recognize us during class, and remember they didn't question us?"

"Hmmm," Zoe said, after pulling Luna away from Sarah Adams, "Nick's right… but the lists are a good idea…it would look to suspicious if only a few select people weren't interviewed, and if they took even the slightest investigation, they would find out…"

"Maybe we can get another teacher to say they've already questioned us," Sarah suggested.

"I don't think so," Nick replied, "the Carrows'll want to do it themselves, do doubt…"

"We have to do _something_!" Christina said desperately, "we'll go to Azkaban, and so will the Muggle-borns!"

"Keep your voice down!" Nick rasped, as Sarah Adams was peering over Luna's shoulder in interest, "I know we'll think of something… but go back to your House tables, it'll look suspicious… We can go to the Room of Requirement tonight to talk about it…"

"It'll be too late then," Zoe wailed, "they're starting _today_, right after lunch!"

"Well," Nick said, "they can't possibly get through the all the students this afternoon… and we're at the bottom of the alphabet, me, Zoe, and Sarah at least…"

"Not _me_," Christina said earnestly, "I'm only 'C'! They'll get it out of me, I'm sure!"

"Just don't tell them anything!" Sarah said.

"I wouldn't, you _know_ I wouldn't," sobbed Christina, "but wh-what if they m-m-_make_ me?"

The bell rang for the dismissal from lunch to the afternoon classes. Nick trudged unhappily off to Charms, and upon entering and taking his usual seat in the back of the room, looked longingly at Laura's and Ian's empty seats. The class passed quite uneventfully, to be entirely truthful. They were practicing the Torrent Charm, an advanced form of _Augumenti_. They were given several wobbling fish to cast the charm over, and typically, moments into the class Nick had managed to save his fish and even Conjure a large cylinder shaped aquarium to contain them. The rest of the class was doing well also, except for Jade Morse whose poor fish had been turned to mere ashes and dust after she attempted the charm. Luckily, Professor Flitwick, who had grown used to Jade's misadventures, had kept aside several more fish for her back-ups.

At the end of the class, Nick though feverishly of approaching Professor Flitwick and asking for the House list, but decided against it, seeing as he couldn't know where Flitwick's loyalty lie. Even though he had helped them escape, Nick could not be sure. Instead, he wondered if Christina had forcefully confessed to their aiding the Muggle-borns. Before he entered Transfiguration, however, a hand caught him on the shoulder. He turned to see Sarah Wardell standing behind him, and to his astonishment, she was crying.

"What is it?" Nick said in horror, "has Christina--?"

She shook her head, "It's _Luna, _Nick… she st-stole Gryffindor's House list, or tried at least. The C-carrows were expecting it… and she's…she's…"

"Did she confess?"

"No," Sarah said, "it was weird… she was taken to Azkaban immediately, though…"

Nick's heart leapt. Luna Lovegood, fragile, eccentric, young, surrounded by dementors and dangerous prisoners, probably wobbling in despair cold and hungry on a small little forgotten island in the raging sea… the thought was unbearable. But still—

"It's weird, Sarah," Nick asked, "why didn't the Carrows make her confess? Obviously, they saw her stealing the lists…"

"Ooo-hhh, they were going to all right," Sarah said, her voice shaking with rage, "and they were appalled that they couldn't. It was Sn-snape! He told them that Luna was a stupid, eccentric girl—" her voice broke "—who couldn't understand anything at all, even if she were forced to reveal it… So he demanded that she be sent to Azkaban instead of questioned… Also said she could be dangerous, striking out on her own like that…and that she was in-in-in-sane…"

"That's suspicious," Nick said, placing a comforting hand on Sarah, "it'll be fine, at least she didn't say anything—"

"Oh great," Sarah snapped suddenly, "it's fine that she's locked up, suffering, _dying_ probably, in Azkaban, but that's fine as long as she didn't _tell on us_…"

"Sarah, I didn't mean… of course it's horrible that she's in Azkaban, but…"

"We've got Transfiguration, come on," Sarah pulled away from Nick and walked swiftly down the hallway. Nick followed after her reluctantly.

Professor McGonagall looked as distressed as Sarah when they entered the classroom. Undoubtedly, she was concerned about Luna. She had worked with the Order anyway.

"Today we will be learning the opposite of Conjuring Spells, simply called, Vanishing Spells," she said briskly, her eyes scanning the classroom, "Now, last week we learned the incantation, _Adveho hic_, and today we will be using the incantation, '_Exorizo_', meaning 'vanish' in ancient Latin magic…" She flicked her wand at several black boxes on her desk, and they opened, revealing a cage of squirming rats, fat, black and ugly, with large fangs.

"I Conjured these rats before class," Professor McGonagall explained, "and you will each be given one to Vanish." And without further ado, she called a few students to hand out the rats.

"Oh, don't be silly, Miss Musgrave, they can't hurt you," she barked at as a girl screamed as she reached her hand into the crate of squirming rats. She did not look very reassured, as she closed her eyes and reached forward once more.

Next to him, Sarah was nervously prodding her wand at her rat, which was laying on it's back, eyes closed, apparently dead. It sprang to life immediately and chomped at Sarah's outstretched hand, making her yelp loudly and Stun it with a swish of her wand.

"Miss Wardell, we're _Vanishing_, not Stunning," McGonagall said, casting a reproving glance on the terrified Sarah. Before she could instruct her to perform a Vanishing Spell properly, but at that moment, the door sprang open and Professor Carrow strode furiously into the room, wearing a look of upmost revulsion on his already murderous face.


	7. Chapter 7 The Traitor

Chapter 7 – Chapter 7 – The Traitor

Professor McGonagall did not seem the least surprised that an enraged, snarling man had barged into her classroom and demanded to torture her students into confession. On the contrary, she merely looked at Amycus Carrow as if he were a mildly interesting television documentary and said placidly, with a hint of bitterness, "Why yes, I can't refuse, can I?"

"Oh, whatever, let's just get on with it," Amycus snarled, he glanced at the students who were trying to contain several severely startled snarling black rats, and perhaps seeing Sarah move nervously next to Nick said, "I'll start with _these_ two."

He gestured at Sarah and Nick. Sarah gasped and prodded her Stunned rat a little too hard and it fell to the floor with a thump. Amycus grinned horribly.

"Come with me," he rasped, beckoning them forward with a wave of his hand. Nick caught Professor McGonagall's gaze as they exited the class, and he thought he could sense an inkling of fear flash across her eyes. Nick shuddered and exited the stunned classroom. The rats, entirely forgotten by the panicking students were squeaking and squirming and darting across the floor. As they bounded the corridor, Nick heard Professor McGonagall say in a faint, weak voice, "Miss Musgrave, perhaps you could help me collect the rats and Miss Pomeroy, the door if you don't mind…"

"This way," Amycus snapped, pulling Sarah, who looked quite queasy in his tight grasp. She looked terrified, her eyes wide with horror. Nick mouthed silently, 'Stay calm, just do what I do'. She nodded, and freed herself from Amycus' grasp. Nick knew the way to the head of discipline office all to well. It helps you know find your way around when you're forced to hide in every suit of armor or empty broom closet along the way. Only just this morning, he and Demelza had hauled Jordan up this same hallway. Odd, it seemed like ages ago. Nick's thoughts suddenly turned rapid and fearful. What would Amycus _do_ to him? How could he help Sarah without jeopardizing himself or the hidden Muggle-borns? Did Amycus already suspect them?

When they reached the '**ALECTO & AMYCUS CARROW-HEADS OF DISCIPLINE**', to their surprise, Daniel and Mary were standing nervously outside of it. A shrill, harping voice sounded from within the office and a satisfied looking brown haired boy scampered out. Alecto Carrow stepped onto the scene.

"Alright," she said, exasperated, "I think we can do these—" she motioned towards Daniel, Mary, Nick, and Sarah, "—in pairs. It's taking too long, at this rate the guilty ones will have escaped. I'll take the DeLorenzos I s'pose…"

"No, Alecto, I desire to question them _personally_," a cold voice said from behind them. Alecto jumped.

"Oh, Severus, it's you," she said shakily, "of course, you can take them…I'll go round up some…some more…" She turned on the spot and proceeded down the corridor. Mary and Daniel looked at each other nervously and followed Snape, who was already trailing down the hall.

"Well," Amycus said impatiently, "_in_, you two…"

Nick and Sarah walked into the room together. A small little desk and a chair sat innocently in the corner and Sarah sat down. Glancing around, Amycus seemed to remember that he was interviewing _two_ students, and flicked his wand, instantly Conjuring up another small wooden chair. Nick sat down, wondering feverishly if Snape suspected Mary and Daniel, and why he deemed them important enough to be interrogated by the headmaster himself.

"We will begin," Amycus said in a rather bored voice, "by giving names. You are Nicholas Southwick and Sarah Wardell, am I correct?—" and then, without waiting for a response, he checked their names off on a list with a black quill.

"And you are a Ravenclaw?" he looked at Nick.

"Yes."

"And a oh—" his voice grew some disgust "—and you are a Gryffindor?"

Sarah replied nervously with a small, faint, "Yes."

"Ah well, not Slytherins," he said, "I guess we'll have to go on with the interrogation then. Do you know anything about the whereabouts of the Mudbloods who so mysteriously escaped our grasp last night? And where were you during the night of question, from about midnight to one o'clock in the morning?"

"No, I was in Charms Club all night, we had our Charm-off, see?" Sarah said. She was terrified, but convincing.

Amycus turned to Nick.

"I don't know where they are, I was sleeping."

"In this report," he said, glaring suspiciously at Nick, "I have noted that you are close friends with confirmed and escaped Mudbloods Laura Donovan and Ian Szwidlo."

Nick's heart gave a wild leap. How did he know that? Had someone already confessed something about him? He would have to lie, yes we would…and quickly, before Amycus would resort to alternative, and much more dangerous means of questioning.

"Of course I'm friends with them," Nick said, trying to stop his voice from shaking, "I won't deny it. But I don't know where they are. They didn't tell me anything…"

"Very well," Amycus did not lift his gaze, "and I also know that you share a dormitory with said Mudblood. You claim to be sleeping during his escape, so naturally you didn't see him escape?"

"Of course not," Nick said, and then he added, "and I would've already told you if I knew anything."

"Right," Amycus said disbelievingly. He then rounded on Sarah, "So you were in Charms club, girly? I doubt that they have meetings in the early morning hours…"

"Well not normally, sir," Sarah squirmed in anxious discomfort, "I already told you, we were doing our Charm-off competition, and—"

"Can you confirm that?" Amycus interrupted rudely, "I don't trust Gryffindors, cowardly bunch of Mudbloods and blood-traitors if you ask me…"

Nick looked and saw that Sarah's face was tightening, contorted by anger. It was white and blotchy. She then continued, "You can talk to Sarah Doucette, she's the secretary of Charms club. She'll have my name on the roll-call and everything."

Nick thought this, on the whole, was a pretty convincing lie. Sarah Doucette, as well was in the D.A. and was helping them that night. Perhaps if they had fake meeting reports…

"Fine," Amycus snapped, "I suppose you're right. I interviewed Miss Doucette personally hours ago and she did confirm to be in Charms club last night. And now—would you care for some tea?"

He flicked his wand and two teacups appeared in front of them. Nick knew immediately, that there was definitely some Veritaserum floating around in the tea. He hoped Sarah knew that as well… He looked over and their gaze met. Choosing not to refuse Amycus, as he was looking more Cruciatus-prone every minute, they politely accepted the tea and, smiling, pressed the cups to their lips, careful to keep their lips sealed tightly shut.

Amycus' manner changed instantly. He snarled suddenly, "Where are the Muggle-borns?"

Nick knew immediately what to do. He had seen the effects of Veritaserum in his fourth year and tried to imitate the blank, glassy eyes of the truth-teller and the monotone voice.

"I do not know," he said calmly and firmly, setting the undrunk tea back down at the table. Sarah decided to imitate Nick and said the same. Amycus looked quite disappointed.

"Alright then," he said, "you may go…"

Without waiting for Amycus to change his mind, Sarah and Nick sprang to their feet and quickly exited Amycus' office. Once they were far out of Amycus' earshot, Sarah sighed deeply.

"That was a relief," she said warmly, "I thought for sure…"

"Your lie was best," Nick said admiringly, "Charms club, huh?"

"Sarah and I talked about it during Arithmacy. She's actually the secretary, so all she had to do was write fake minutes, and then we were safe."

"It was good thinking," Nick said, "I wonder why Snape wanted to see Mary and Daniel personally."

"Yeah," Sarah agreed, "it was…I hope they're okay…"

"We're fine," said a voice behind them. Mary and Daniel came walking up behind them. Mary smiled radiantly, "Hi Sarah, hi Nick! How did it go with Amycus?"

"Never mind him," Sarah said, waving her hand through the air, "How was _Snape_? He's so scary, how did you _ever_—"

"It was fine, actually," Daniel said, "Mary just said she was sleeping, and I said I was working on my Muggle Studies essay, and he bought it fine. Then he said we could go."

"Wow," Nick said, astonished. Snape was a bitter, horrible man… surely he would torture Mary and Daniel, they had parents in the Order, and he knew they did…and with Luna earlier…

"I'm going to the Room of Requirement," Mary said, "I said I'd meet Zoe there so we can work on our Charms homework. And I think Daniel's going too…"

"Can't," Daniel said quickly, "Mom and Joe sent me a new catalogue of Muggle cars that I wanted to look through, and it's got the NASCAR highlights… Joe said he found a new way to enchant the van too…"

He ran off, thoroughly excited, to his dormitory and Mary rolled her eyes.

As they set off to the sixth floor, Sarah asked Mary, interested, "What's 'NASCAR'?"

Mary laughed, "I keep forgetting you're pureblood. You don't know anything about Muggle sports, do you?"

"No, but hey," Sarah said, "You're pureblood too…how do you…?"

Mary laughed, "My parents act more like Muggles than most wizards and witches. See, they love cars. They're mechanics. And they're the best. They can fix anything. It's funny see, because they use magic to fix the cars mostly, so they make a pretty good living. But anyway, my dad's really into enchanting cars to make them do certain…um…things… But anyway, they were really mad when Daniel didn't do well on his O.W.L.s, you see, because his ambition is to be a mechanic, and he thinks Muggle Studies is the only important class for that."

"Not the way Alecto teaches it," Nick said darkly.

"Well, yeah," Mary agreed, "but he says the witch who taught it last, I thought her name was Burbage, I think, was really good. _I _think Daniel had a crush on her, actually." She giggled.

"Hold on," Sarah said, confused, "but there was something about a Professor Burbage retiring at the beginning of this year…"

"Yeah," Mary said, "it's weird, isn't it. Daniel's not interested in seventy year old witches…so she was really young I thought?"

"It is strange," Nick agreed, "So… 'NASCAR', Sarah, is a rather brutal Muggle sport that involves cars racing around tracks…"

Sarah's excitement, interest, and fear ("You mean, their cars can actually blow up during a race?!") about NASCAR lasted the whole way to the sixth floor. When they reached the entrance to the Room of Requirement, it was nearly dark.

"Let's make it quick," Nick said, "we've got to get down to dinner soon, or there won't be any food left…"

"Oh that doesn't matter, haven't you seen…" Mary stopped, "Oh right, well hold on a moment, you'll see. They've figured out how to get food to them now."

The splendid oak door to the Room of Requirement suddenly materialized in front of them and they pushed it open to find quite a pleasant sight. The Room had obviously evolved greatly since Nick had seen it last. Three nicely-finished wooden tables with several chairs in neat lines were sitting in the center of the room. The multi-colored banners of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and a small Slytherin flag for Demelza of course, hung above the tables. Several squashy armchairs and coffee tables were spread about, circling a cheery, grand fireplace. There were still doors that led to girls' and boys' dormitories in the back.

Suddenly we has engulfed in a warm hug by Laura. She was beaming at him. Ian was standing behind her, in conversation with Jordan, who was laying a particularly squishy arm chair, and was sporting several cuts, bruises, and casts. She looked quite cheerful, despite her ailments.

"How are you?" Laura asked nervously, "Christina was passing by earlier and said that you were all going to be interviewed by the Carrows and Snape… She was really distressed…"

"It's fine," Nick said, "Amycus interrogated Sarah and I—"

"_Really?!_," Laura gasped.

"Yes," Sarah said, sinking down into a vacant armchair next to Laura, "but we got out okay. Mary and Daniel got _Snape_ though…"

"Excuse me," said a voice from behind them, "it's _Professor_ Snape."

Demelza had arrived. "Can you stop disrespecting my Head of House, please?"

"How can you _say_ that!?" Jordan screeched. It was surprising. Jordan, who had normally gotten along quite well with Demelza had started to yell. "_He's_ the reason we're hiding in the castle! _He's_ the reason poor Luna's alone and scared in Azkaban! _He's_ the reason Dumbledore's dead! If you think he's go great, do and join him, _Slytherin_!"

Demelza looked shocked. Surprisingly she didn't retort, possible because Ian was looking quite murderous as well, waiting to step in and defend Jordan at Demelza's first comment.

"It's okay," she said stiffly, "I'll just go down to dinner in the Hall…it's _fine_, Nick…"

And without another word she swept away and left the Room of Requirement. Nick cast a reproving glance at Jordan.

"She's on our side," he said quietly, "her mother works for the order…"

"Fine, _defend_ her, I knew you would," Jordan snapped, "you have an annoying quality of seeing everything good in people and nothing bad. It gets annoying, you know… not every one's good. We've got a traitor here!"

Several of the Muggle-borns looked around in alarm. Jordan looked happy at the amount of attention she was getting. Laura looked scandalized.

"Jordan!" she breathed, "I don't think anyone here would…"

"I know it for sure," Jordan said, ignoring her completely, "why else would Amycus seek _me_ out and torture _me_? Someone must have told him. I know it… and if we don't do anything about the traitor soon, we'll be discovered! And I don't want to wait around for that to happ—"

"_Please_ stop," Laura pleaded, "We have to depend on each other…"

"I think it's Ramirez," Ian said, "I've never liked her… a friendly Slytherin, ha! Like that would ever happen!"

"No," Nick said, "she couldn't…she wouldn't… she found Jordan with me, and helped bring her here!"

Jordan's face suddenly glowed, "Exactly! She knew where I was because she reported me to her dear old Snape herself!"

"And she just decided to save your life?" Nick asked coldly.

"Well, she had you with her, didn't she? She couldn't dare blow her cover," Jordan said slowly.

"Stop it _now_," Laura said, "We have to trust each other, it's what Dumbledore would've wanted… _he_ always trusted people… even if they were in Slytherin…"

"And look how good that turned out for him," Ian said sarcastically.

"Yeah," Zoe said, "Dead at the hands of Demelza's beloved _headmaster_…"

"Yeah, I say we hold Demelza prisoner so she can't spy on us any more," Ian said mutinously.

"Ian," Nick said sharply, "You're my friend, but you go too far—"

"Does he?" Jordan asked. There was a general murmur of agreement at this.

Laura looked extremely anxious. Sarah had sunk even lower into her armchair was determinedly not looking at Jordan or Nick. Mary, however stepped between Jordan and Nick.

"Ummm," she said awkwardly, "why don't we get something to eat? Nick hasn't seen been through the passageway yet…"

The awkward silence was broke up immediately by Jade Morse, who had apparently been teaching several first years how to do a proper Flying Charm, and instead managed somehow to turn a frightened looking Katrina's hair into spaghetti. As Jordan rushed over to sort her out, with Ian's aide, Laura pulled Nick aside and Mary led them to the corner of the Room.

"This is the passageway… hold on…" Mary said, "Oh please…_Neville_…" Several large green carnivorous plants were blocking the way. She muttered something and flicked her wand and the plants were pushed neatly aside. "It's Neville," she explained, "he's always growing these things…and helps them along with Engorgement Charms, I s'pose… Ah, here we are!"

She pointed her wand at a small, broken painting. A smiling girl with black hair and brilliant blue eyes appeared suddenly, apparently walking up from behind the painting… Funny, it seemed to go on forever…

"Okay, we've got to climb through," Mary said. She eagerly jumped through the painting. Rather than hitting the wall, however, she kept walking, and her voice could be heard from afar saying, "Alright, come on!"

Laura went next and motioned for Nick to come last. He felt like and idiot, thinking he could climb through solid wall, but that's how he had felt the first time he had crossed over into Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Sighing, he heaved himself up and barely fit through the portrait. It was a rather long way down. He landed with a thud on a cold earthen floor. From throughout the portrait's glass, he could see Jordan yelling angrily at Jade, who managed to turn Katrina's friend's hair into yarn.

"Come on," Mary said, "Follow me!"

The passageway was narrow and long, and Nick shivered as he grasped his robes. The air was damp and freezing. Mary was walking in front, following the portrait-girl, who turned and looked at Nick. For a moment, Nick saw those brilliant blue eyes and somehow they looked familiar…

"Laura," he began slowly, "those eyes… who is that in the painting?"

"Hmmm," she said, "I'm not sure. Does she look familiar to you?"

"Her eyes," Nick said, "They're so blue… they remind me of…well… _Dumbledore's_, to tell you the truth."

"Weird," Laura said, "They _do_ kinda, don't they…"

Suddenly she gasped. "Nick!" she exclaimed, "I _know_ who that is!" She pulled out a worn _Daily Prophet_ from her robes. "It's here! The Dumbledore family photo! In Rita Skeeter's new book!"

Nick looked over the photograph. A man, tall, solemn, and handsome was standing, smiling carelessly up at him, his arm around a large but beautiful woman with sparkling blue eyes and dark hair that fell limply over her cheeks. She had her arms around two boys who looked to be about in their late teens. Grinning broadly, with fair blond hair like his father, and brilliant blue eyes like his mother, stood the teenage Albus Dumbledore. Nick had to laugh out loud at the thought of a teenage Dumbledore. He was considerably more lean and was missing the half-moon spectacles, twinkling smile, wrinkles, crooked wizard hat, and three foot long beard, yet still… it was Dumbledore. Next to him stood another boy, a few years younger than Dumbledore, by the looks of him. He had sandy hair and blue eyes, and was considerably plumper than Dumbledore. But what interested Nick most was the small little baby girl that Dumbledore's brother held in his arms. She was looked barely older than two in the photograph, but there was no mistaking the brilliant blue eyes and curly black hair. Nick read the caption below her, it said: THE DUMBLEDORE FAMILY (left to right) PERCIVAL, KENDRA, ALBUS, ABERFORTH, and ARIANA.

Ariana Dumbledore. Nick never knew Dumbledore had a sister, let alone an entire family… but of course, he _had_ to, but still…

"We're here!" Mary said loudly, and Laura snatched the _Prophet_ away from Nick and stuffed it back into the pocket of her robes. A small square of light shone from up above and Mary climbed up on the earthen wall and through the square. This must be the other portrait. Laura climbed up and disappeared after Jordan. Soon, Nick was left alone with the portrait of Ariana Dumbledore. Before Nick could say anything. She smiled softly and motioned for him to go up. Nick obeyed and stepped out through the other end of the portrait into a very dingy and dusty bar.

It was the Hog's Head. He had been there before in his fifth year, when they had first established the D.A. The squat old bartender grunted and came up to them. He was hunched over and was wearing a greasy, threadbare old apron. He waved grumpily to Mary.

"Hullo," he grunted, "Mary is it, eh? And Laura? And I don't think I know this 'un…"

"I'm Nick," Nick said shortly. He was never fond of the Hog's Head bartender, and always taken Professor Flitwick's advice of bringing his own glasses on the rare occasions that he set foot in the bar.

"Nice ta meet ya," the bartender said, wiping white crust out of his—Nick gasped—blazing blue eyes. Before he could say anything, Mary said, "Well, hi, Aberforth! Sorry we didn't come during the official mealtimes, but…"

"It's fine, I guess," Aberforth wheezed, "Just as long as you don't get any more here. The Death Eaters' have set up hundreds of enchantments all over Hogsmeade. Think they'll catch the Potter boy, but he's not stupid. He fled when You-Know-Who put the price on 'is head—"

"You're Dumbledore's brother!" Nick blurted out suddenly.

Aberforth looked seriously annoyed. "What's it to you—er—Nick, was it?"

"Yes, and that girl in the photo's Ariana, isn't it?"

"Been reading Rita Skeeter, have you?" he growled

"I—er—no, I mean yes…I mean—er—I just looked at the family photograph in the paper," Nick said nervously.

Apparently not wanting to discuss the subject further, Aberforth quickly said, "Okay, so, you came for food, what'll you have?"

"Three butterbeers, please," Laura said politely, "and how about some chicken…we haven't eaten any dinner yet."

"Sure," Aberforth growled and sulked away into his kitchen.

"He's _creepy_," Nick whispered, "I'm not sure if I like him very much…"

"Ah well," Mary sighed, "he was in the Order, so it's safe to eat here. The Room of Requirement certainly seemed to think so, anyway."

"What do you mean _was_ in the Order?" Nick asked, "did he quit?"

"No," Laura said sadly, "a lot of people have given up. They think the war's lost. Most of the Muggle-borns went into hiding… It makes me think… what if the Death Eaters go to my _p-parents_ and k-k-kill them or t-t-torture them into telling where I am…?"

She burst into tears and buried her face into her hands. Mary placed a comforting arm over her. "My parents'll be in trouble too," she said sadly, "they may be pureblood but they act like Muggles and blood-traitors are next to Muggle-borns for the Death Eaters…"

"We have to get the Muggle-born students in the Room of Requirement into hiding!" Nick said desperately, "They have to get to their families! They have to be safe! This pub's in Hogsmead, why don't we just do Apparation, you know, and do Side-Along for the younger ones so we can escape from here!"

"Couldn't if you tried, kid." Aberforth had returned, clutching several platters of fried chicken and pulled three dusty bottles of butterbeer from beneath his counter. As he banged the butterbeer on the counter and Laura, Mary, and Nick pulled out some silver coins and handed them to Aberforth, Mary explained.

"See, that's what we thought we could do when we found out about Hogsmeade," she explained, "but You-Know-Who's put like _twenty_ Death Eaters to guard Hogsmeade. They have charms and they even have an anti-Apparation Charm all around the whole town. And none of us have Invisibility Cloaks, and even if you take one step outside the doors after a certain time, the entire force of Death Eaters shows up at your doorstep. It's scary."

"It looks like we're stuck," Laura said, still crying slightly, and choking on some butterbeer, "but the Room of Requirement's been good to us so far…and Neville's really good at controlling it so we know the Carrows can't find it. Oh, but what if Jordan and Ian are right? What if there's a t-t-traitor?! Then we're doomed!"

"We have to trust each other, Laura," Nick said, "Demelza _can't_ be, she couldn't, she _wouldn't_!"

"We can't give up," Mary said, "The Order isn't finished—"

"Excuse me," Aberforth said from behind his counter, "young lady, the Order _is_ finished. It's done. You-Know-Who's won."

"It's _not_ finished!" Nick yelled, "if the adults have given up than _we_ will fight! I refuse to give in to Voldemort—" The response was typical at the use of Voldemort's name. Aberforth smashed the glass he was rubbing with his dirty rag. Mary yelped, chocking on fried chicken, and Laura spilled her butterbeer down her robes.

"Oh come _on_," Nick said fiercely, "It's only a name, and Dumbledore used it, Harry uses it, and Demelza does!"

"Hmmm," Mary said sarcastically, "let's take a look at those people you named… well for one, Dumbledore's _dead _at the hands of a Death Eater that he was foolish enough to trust…"

"Demelza could be a," Laura looked around nervously, as if to find Demelza standing behind her, brandishing her wand, firing curses at her, "_traitor_."

"And the famous Harry Potter's abandoned us," Aberforth said, "when we needed him most."

Nick was enraged. His voice shook with rage "First of all, Demelza is NOT A TRAITOR!" Laura started crying once more. "And Harry's the bravest, most selfless person I've ever known, and he would NEVER ABANDON US! He says Dumbledore's left him a mission, and even though we don't know what it was, I'm sure it will get rid of VOLDEMORT! There—happy?! V-O-L-D-E-M-O-R-T!"

Mary looked sullen and sulky, Laura's face was buried in her hands and Aberforth looked vaguely at Nick. "Come on," Nick said angrily, "we're leaving. He pushed his butterbeer aside and grabbed Mary's and Laura's arms and strode off through Ariana's portrait. They walked silently to the end of the passageway, Laura looked nervously at Nick as though he would blow up and yell at them once more.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I'm just tired of everyone giving up because it's getting tough. Voldemort's gaining power, but he's not immortal, we can still defeat him. Harry's obviously trying to now!"

"I know, Nick," Mary said, "We'll hang on. We'll wait for when Harry returns to Hogwarts from his mission and then we'll fight and take back Hogwarts from the Carrows. It'll happen, don't worry."

"Laura," Nick said kindly, "I'm sure your parents will be alright. Why don't you write a letter to them. I'll take it to the Owlery for you and send it with a school owl, okay?"

"Alright," Laura said, "I sure do hope they're okay…"

They climbed quickly through the portrait on the other end of the passageway and fell out into the Room of Requirement. Many of the students had gone to bed already and the embers in the fireplace were smoldering and cracking away into nothingness.

"Well good night," Laura said quickly, "I've got to shower and change…" She strode off towards another door on the right that Nick had not noticed before, but realized it must be where the showers were located. Jordan and Ian were sitting in the corner in arm chairs that were pulled next to each other. They were conversing mutinously with Nikki Bouchard and Dan Honeycutt. When they saw Nick approach they stopped their fervent whispering and looked up as if Nick were about to curse them.

"_Honestly_," Nick whispered to Mary as they approached the door, "I thought we were all friends…"

"It's just this war," Mary said firmly, "and they're tired of being cooped up in the Room of Requirement just waiting for the Carrows to discover them."

"Well I wish they would stop," Nick growled, "they're going to tear each other apart. We have to stay together, or we can't even hope to overtake Voldemort."

Mary and Nick said good-bye and went to their separate Common Rooms and by the time Nick reached the Ravenclaw Tower, everyone was already in their beds. He quickly lay down on his bed and pulled out his textbooks.

But it was no use. He couldn't quite grasp Arithmacy. Perhaps it was because of the lateness of the hour, or perhaps his thoughts had been ripping away at him, tearing, braking into his calm, collected pool of concentration. He had known Demelza since he had first set foot into Hogwarts… it just did not seem possible that Demelza Nason Ramirez would betray her friends and classmates whom she had befriended and worked with for six long years. But then again, a thought ripped into Nick's brain, _She was a Slytherin_, and Snape was a Slytherin. Dumbledore had trusted Snape, and had worked happily along side of him for years, and he had been ultimately been killed by he who he placed his trust in. Could it be the same for Demelza? Was Jordan right in saying that Nick's "annoying" ability of seeing good in everyone was blinding him? Could it be that one of the classmates whom he had worked with for six years would betray them to Voldemort?


	8. Chapter 8 Scheming for the Sword

_Hello readers! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. It's proven to be very enjoyable to write. I've been writing it everywhere—in the car, in the dentist's waiting room, ha, you name it! There's been some major twists so far…who is the traitor? Well, I know who it is…heh heh… and you'll find out at the end, just keep reading. I've been trying to stay close to the seventh book and the plotline, but there may be some creative differences. Once again, it's only fanfiction, so I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters, J.K.Rowling does. So, yeah. But I do own the original characters…even though they're based on real people…ha, that's confusing…but anyways! ENJOY it! It's gets better and better as the plot thickens…_

**Chapter 8 – Scheming For the Sword**

Laura's parents, as it transpired, were indeed alright. Laura had burst into tears of joy when their reply came and discovered that their wizard neighbors, the DeLorenzos had smartly placed several protective enchantments around their home. Nick however, had more pressing matters on his mind. When he had woke up this past morning, several fleeting thoughts of 'Demelza', 'traitor', 'Voldemort', and 'Dumbledore' were hanging in his memory.

For the first time this year, it seemed like things were actually going well. During lunch the next day, they were informed by an absolutely furious Amycus Carrow that their student interrogations had returned with little result, and that it would be ceased immediately. Professor McGonagall had looked quite relieved herself and treated the class to no homework for the rest of the week. This was probably a good thing, because Vanishing Spells and their counterparts, Conjuring Spells were proving to be extremely difficult. The students had progressed past rats and now Professor McGonagall (to the class' upmost horror) gave them live tarantulas to practice on. Obviously still recovering from passing out the rats, Becky Musgrave had dissolved into hysterics during the next class, after accidently mutating her tarantula into a hippo-sized horror.

There were still some downs, though. Jordan and Ian seemed to have gained more followers than just Nikki and Dan. Every time Nick went to visit Laura in the Room of Requirement, they could be seen sitting in a corner of the room, talking in hushed voices. Demelza had not been to the Room of Requirement ever since Jordan had declared her a traitor. In fact, whenever Nick saw her, it appeared that she was determinedly looking the other way, and avoiding his gaze. It wasn't until Charms class the next day that they spoke to each other.

They had been informed by Professor Flitwick that they would be learning the Drought Charm. Frowning slightly, Nick remembered only days ago when Laura had used practiced the charm on Ian's pumpkin juice, much to his dismay. It seemed a century ago.

"I shall now divide you into partners," Professor Flitwick was saying, "and you will practice the Drought Charm on these goblets. First, you will cast the Torrent Charm, which we have been reviewing lately, and then you will use the Drought Charm to empty the goblet… right…let's see, how about Mr. DeLorenzo and Miss Clewley…"

Flitwick hobbled around the class, pairing people together. Nick thought he saw Jade Morse catch his eye, and he instantly looked the other way. In about five minutes, Flitwick had reached his desk.

"Mr. Southwick," he squeaked, "you can work with Miss Ramirez, I believe she is free…"

Suddenly, a disgruntled Demelza landed in the vacant chair next to him. Without looking at him, she said, "Well, come on then, let's get started. _Cheimarros._"

Her empty goblet, which sat in front of her, was filled immediately with a jet of raging water. Nick followed suit, and opened his textbook to find the proper wand movement for the Drought Charm.

"I don't think you're a traitor, you know," Nick said.

Demelza looked up. "Sure," she said sarcastically, "and I guess you would say the same for your friends, wouldn't you?"

"Look," Nick whispered, "it's not their fault…they're just cooped up there in that room and Voldemort's taken over the Ministry, they think he'll go after their families."

"I know," Demelza replied, cast an Impertubable charm in the direction of the other students, "I get that a lot though. Not many people are fond of Slytherins, you know."

"I know you wouldn't give them away," Nick said. Then he added nervously, "Er—would you?"

Demelza looked appalled. "Of course not! All I told them was to stop disrespecting Professor Snape."

Nick suddenly turned a little angry. "They _are_ right though, Snape _killed_ Dumbledore, among other nasty things. We don't understand why you admire him so much… to them, it's quite suspicious."

"He's always been kind to me," Demelza said shortly, "he's a talented wizard. He worked for the Order. I didn't ever dream he would kill Dumbledore… but… well, you'll probably say I sound like a traitor… but—er—we knew that Professor Snape was a double-agent and—er—what if he had no choice but to kill Dumbledore, because he was with the Death Eaters…"

Nick couldn't believe it. Perhaps Demelza _was_ the traitor. "Demelza," he said disbelievingly, "Snape was _Dumbledore's_ double-agent. He wouldn't kill him. He would blow his cover first… without Dumbledore, we don't stand much of a chance against Voldemort…"

He tapped his wand on his goblet, muttering, "_Sitis!_", and watch with awe as the goblet instantly emptied itself.

"I know you wouldn't believe me," Demelza explained, "but it's a miracle no one confessed about the Muggle-borns… and most of the D.A. were interviewed by _Professor Snape_! You heard Mary and Daniel, they said he let them off easy… and he sent Luna to Azkaban rather than having her confess…"

"I certainly don't think you're a traitor," Nick said slowly, "but if you don't start acting like one, the others will… they'll…"

"What? _Kill_ me?" Demelza laughed, "They wouldn't. Trust me."

"I'm not so sure," Nick said gravely, "Jordan and Ian looked like they meant business. They could always use the Imperious Cure to keep you from saying anything…"

"I _wouldn't_ say anything!" Demelza exclaimed desperately, "I've been friends with them for six years! How could they expect--?"

"Flitwick," Nick said warningly. Sure enough tiny Professor Fliwick was waddling over to them. He looked very happy, muttering something about how a whole class had gone almost and Jade Morse hadn't destroyed anything yet.

"Well, let's see the charm, then!" he said joyously.

"Oh, er—_Sitis!_" Demelza said quickly. In her haste, however, the goblet was knocked over and the water spilled all over her desk before it dried up.

"Oh well," Flitwick said, "good enough I suppose. And you, Mr. Southwick?"

"_Sitis_," Nick said calmly, and the water from his goblet instantly vanished, much to the approval of Professor Flitwick.

The rest of the day passed quickly, Nick all the while wondering if there could possibly be a traitor in their midst. By the time he reached Muggle Studies, the rest of the class had already assembled and Alecto was already going on about how wizards were forced into hiding by the hideous and violent Muggles.

"These Muggle inventions," she said, pointing at a depiction of Muggles riding in cars, "are called _cars_. Their purpose is also for killing, you see, the most Muggle deaths every year are attributed with these…"

Nick saw Daniel's ears perk up in interest when Alecto had mentioned cars, but then he scowled as she had finished her sentence.

"…But that is to be expected," Alecto continued, "Muggles are filth, Mudbloods the same if you ask me, born creatures of dirt and mud—"

She stopped abruptly as none other than Neville Longbottom had risen to his feet and kicked his desk over in anger. Neville was quiet, forgetful, and well, somewhat dim-witted, Nick always thought, but now he was standing up, challenging Alecto Carrow. She looked faintly amused.

"Longbottom, is it?"

"_Yes_," he growled, "And I'd like to ask _you_, _Professor_—" he sneered "—how much Muggle blood you and your worthless brother have got!"

The entire class whispered, frantically, in hushed voices. Neville Longbottom, was openly challenging a known Death Eater. Alecto, on the contrary looked livid. She tore her wand out from her robes and made a violent slashing gesture through the air. Screaming, Neville fell to the floor, clutching his face in horror. A large slashing cut had appeared from his chin to his forehead. His face was covered in crimson blood. Before he knew what was doing, Nick was at Neville's side, along with Demelza and Ginny Weasley, who had leapt from their seats.

"Er—hospital wing, d'you reckon?" Ginny asked nervously as Nick was quickly siphoning the blood off of Neville's face with his wand.

"Sit down!" barked Alecto, "filthy blood-traitors!"

Slowly, Nick, Demelza and Ginny got to their feet, carefully supporting Neville back into his seat. He was glaring in fury at Alecto, who laughed.

"Detention for Longbottom," she sneered, "and you'll find it's a lot worse than—" she laughed hideously "—_lines_."

Nick had to scowl at the unjustness of it all. Wasn't Neville's bloody scar enough without detention? He was bound to get another one to match it…

"And now," Alecto sneered, "we will continue with reading _The Muggle Infestation & How to Protect Yourself_. And I might add, one way to protect yourself is to not be a blood-traitor like Longbottom. Hogwarts had changed, kids. Blood-traitors will be punished. Severely."

Nick ate lunch in the Great Hall that afternoon, deciding not to go to the Room of Requirement. Jordan's scheming was getting thoroughly annoying. He was sitting at the Ravenclaw table with Demelza and Zoe, who kept shooting her nervous glances. After finishing eating, Nick and Demelza set off for the library to work on their Arithmacy homework for their free period before Dark Arts.

"You know," Demelza said, while they were approaching The Carrows' Head of Discipline Office, "I think I finally understand Arithmacy—it's really easy once you grasp the basic formulas."

"Yeah," Nick agreed, but before he could say anything else, they were interrupted by a high, cold voice coming from within The Carrows' office.

"The Room of Requirement? Never heard of it…"

Nick froze silently, transfixed in silent horror. Demelza obviously had heard it too, because she stopped and looked behind her. Silently, they inched closer to the office door, which was slightly ajar.

"Ah, yes, sister," they heard the unmistakable voice of Amycus Carrow say, "but that is what our…_sources_ tell me. They came to me earlier today. The advice isn't that useful, mind you. They say the Room only listens to the Longbottom boy, and he made it so we can not discover it."

"Longbottom?!" Alecto cried, "_The_ Neville Longbottom? Dim-witted and pathetic Longbottom? Who would have thought that he would be in charge of this…"

"Yes, sister, it is strange, I must agree. But the Dark Lord is not happy with our progress… yet still, he is rarely happy lately. It seems that the Potter boy managed to escape more Death Eaters… and that they infiltrated the Ministry!" Amycus finished dramatically.

"Longbottom, Longbottom…" Alecto was chanting, "I have him for detention tonight, Amycus, what shall I do? Torture him into oblivion? Oooh, yes… or Veritaserum?"

"I'm afraid we—er—used the entire stock of Veritaserum when we questioned the students, Alecto…"

"Oh, very well, I say we use his friends, Amycus. That's how they all fail. Bring in the Weasley girl, torture her in front of Longbottom, he will tell us!"

"Perhaps, perhaps," agreed Amycus, "but I have use of Longbottom during his Dark Arts class this afternoon. After that, he is all yours, sister."

Alecto laughed triumphantly and Demelza shuddered. They quickly walked on to the library.

"So there _is_ a traitor," Demelza said softly, avoiding Madame Pince, the horrible vulture-like librarian who came swooping down on them to criticize them for talking.

"I guess there is," Nick replied, "but I don't know who would? They're all our friends, how can we suspect any of them?"

"I don't know," Demelza shook her head, "but Neville's done a good job with the Room, I don't think it'll show itself to the Carrows…"

"But what if they make Neville confess?! We have to warn him and Ginny too, if they use her as well!"

"Did someone mention me?" A voice asked from behind them. Demelza jumped. Nick turned around quickly to see Ginny Weasley standing above them.

"I thought I heard you talking about me," she repeated.

"Er—yes," Nick said awkwardly, then he lowered his voice, "we've just overheard the Carrows… someone's a traitor, the Carrows said they went to them and told them about the Room of Requirement…" his voice trailed off.

"No!" Ginny said in horror, "_really?!_"

Demelza nodded grimly, "And they told them Neville's in charge of the whole thing as well, so I wouldn't be surprised if they carted him off to Azkaban right now…"

"No," Ginny said, "they couldn't do that! First Luna and now Neville? No! It's bad enough that Harry, Ron, and Hermione aren't here… did you hear? Someone said they've been discovered!"

"No…" Nick moaned, "but Harry's got finish his mission, or whatever so we can finish Voldemort…"

Suddenly Ginny looked suspiciously at Demelza. "You know," she said, "there's been a lot of talk going around about you…"

"Merlin's Pants!" Demelza screamed angrily, making Madame Pince hurry over, "I am NOT the traitor!"

"OUT! OUT! GET OUT OF THE LIBRARY!" screeched Madame Pince. Throwing her a dirt look, Demelza grabbed her books and placed them in her bag messily.

"Come on," she snapped sarcastically to Ginny and Nick, "we've got Dark Arts, I wouldn't want to be late for my dear old friend, Amycus!"

"Sit down," Amycus sneered when they had finally entered the classroom, "today we will be practicing the Cruciatus Curse."

Several students gasped and Mary said loudly, "That's _illegal_!"

"Not anymore it ain't," Amycus barked, "Now. My sister told you earlier that Hogwarts has changed. She was right. Now, classes will practice the Cruciatus Curse on wrong-doers who have earned themselves detention. He opened the door of the class and Neville Longbottom, bound head to foot in chains and ropes walked sheepishly to the front of the class, followed closely by Seamus Finnigan, Parvati Patil, and Sarah Doucette.

Everyone gasped. No. Nick would refuse to perform the Cruciatus Curse on any of them. He couldn't. He _wouldn't_. If Amycus made him, he would refuse and probably earn detention himself, but it wouldn't matter. He glanced out among his fellow classmates. Demelza looked like she was going to be sick, Sarah Wardell had her face buried in her hand, muttering, Mary looked livid, Daniel was determinedly not looking at any of them, and Irene was twiddling her thumbs nervously. The Slytherins, however looked pleased. Draco Malfoy laughed hideously, Pansy Parkinson gave a squeal of delight, and Rebecca George looked like Christmas had come early. Obviously pleased at the expressions on the Slytherins' faces, Amycus grunted for Malfoy, and his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle to come to the front of the class.

"Here, Mr. Malfoy, you can take Longbottom… Crabbe you practice on Doucette, and Goyle…Finnigan, if you don't mind… Now remember everything you've read about the Cruciatus Curse. Books, however, can only get you so far in my class. You have to _mean them_ when you perform an Unforgiveable Curse. You have to _want_ to do them… to _desire_ pain or death… Crabbe! You first."

Before anyone could object, Crabbe smiled stupidly and a look of hatred crossed over his squinting eyes. "CRUCIO!" he roared.

Suddenly, the class was full of Sarah's inhuman screams. She wailed, writhing on the ground, pleading for Crabbe to stop. Back in her seat, Sarah Wardell fainted.

"Good," Amycus said admiringly to Crabbe as though he had just won a Quidditch match, "very good, Crabbe. Fifty points to Slytherin!"

Sarah rolled over weakly on the ground, and she was supported into a chair by Christina and Kim Spencer, who gripped her tightly around each arm.

"And now," continued Amycus, "Mr. Malfoy… oh, your father would be _ever_ so proud… practice on Longbottom! Now!"

Malfoy sneered and took out his wand, pointing it firmly at Neville, who winced, screeching, "_Crucio!_"

The room was then full of Neville's helpless screaming, as it had been for Sarah. Malfoy went longer than Crabbe, however, and Neville's screams did not subside until finally Ginny Weasley stood up, smashing her chair to the ground, screaming, "STOP!"

"Stop?" repeated Amycus, in a teasing sort of way, "Stop? My dear, these students have been out of line… they deserve punishment, and being the Head of Discipline, I certainly do have the authority to do so."

"YOU'RE EVIL! TWISTED! FOUL!" Ginny screamed, sounding so reminiscent on Mrs. Weasley, that Nick actually turned around to make sure it was indeed Ginny, and not her mother. There was general murmur of agreement to her words.

"Detention, Weasley," Amycus snarled, "you'll find that we Death Eaters are not so unforgiving to blood-traitors."

Thankfully, the bell rang before Amycus had the chance of Cruciating the rest of the class. As they filed out of the classroom, Ginny Weasley caught up angrily with Nick, Sarah Wardell, Demelza, Mary, and Daniel who were all leaving together.

"Honestly," she snapped, "someone _had_ to do _something_! And all of you just sitting in your seats, too scared to move…"

"Ginny," Sarah pleaded, "we didn't know… I didn't know what to do? If we spoke out, we would just get the Cruciatus Curse too…"

"You're in Gryffindor," Ginny said shortly, "you're suppose to be _brave._ Now come on, maybe you can still help me with something… Neville and I have heard that Snape stole the sword of Gryffindor, which Dumbledore specifically willed to Harry. We're going to steal it back."

"NO!" screamed Nick, Sarah, Demelza, Mary and Daniel at once.

"You _can't_ do it, Ginnny!" Mary pleaded, "_please_, be sensible! Snape will, he'll—he'll _kill_ you or something!"

"Please don't," Daniel said, "Mary's right. You wouldn't live to tell the tale…"

"Cowards," Ginny snarled. She stalked away haughtily, leaving everyone looking at each other in panic.

"She goes too far," Sarah said, "that's not bravery. That's just stupidity. What can we gain by having Gryffindor's sword, it doesn't matter!"

"Ginny probably thinks she can get it to Harry or something," Nick replied, "we know she's always like him a lot…"

"I don't know what do to," Mary said, rolling her eyes, "if they get caught, fine. It's their own fault. Just as long as they don't tell 'em where the Muggle-borns are."

"Oh, someone's already done _that_," Demelza said grimly.

Mary dropped her entire bag and bottles of ink smashed, drenching her books. She looked horrified and brandished her wand angrily at a surprised Demelza.

"You _are_ the traitor!" she exclaimed.

"No, no," Nick said quickly, stepping between them, "we were walking to Arithmacy and overheard the Carrows talking about it. They said that someone told them that the Muggle-borns were hiding in the Room of Requirement."

"Oh _no_," Sarah whined, "we may as well escape now—"

"No," Demelza cut across her, "the Carrows may know that they're in the Room of Requirement, but they don't know where it is or how to get into it. We're safe… for now at least. And I think this proves that I'm NOT the traitor, right?"

"I s'pose," Mary said suspiciously, looking at Demelza, "but still! Someone told them! We have to find out who before they tell them anything else!"

"I know," Nick agreed, "but for now—_Reparo!_" Instantly, Mary's bag mended itself and she siphoned the ink off of her books with her wand, just as he had done with Neville's blood earlier…wait…_Neville_! The traitor told the Carrows that Neville was behind it! NEVILLE! He had to get to safety, he'd have to hide in the Room of Requirement… or…

"Nick, you alright?" Daniel asked, for Nick had stopped walking and was staring, eyes wide with fear, ahead of him.

"No! I mean, yeah, I'm fine, but Neville isn't!" He turned to Demelza, "DEMELZA! Come on, Neville doesn't _know_ that the Carrows are after him!"

Demelza looked petrified. "Merlin's pants! I forgot! Where is now?"

"What are you _talking_ about? You guys aren't making any sense…" Sarah trailed off.

"No!" Nick moaned, "Remember what Ginny said? They're going to steal the sword! They can't! They'll get Neville an—"

He turned on the spot, eyes wide and snatched Demelza on the arm and beckoned for the others to follow. "Come ON!"

He ran directly to Dumbledore's old office. It did not look any different since Dumbledore had lived here. He doubted even if the stone griffon that blocked the entrance knew that it's previous owner was dead. He stopped at the griffon. Neville and Ginny weren't here yet… or perhaps they had already taken the sword and left…

"We've got to get Neville before they catch him!" Nick explained hastily to the others, "but we need to know if they've been here yet…"

"Hold on," Demelza said, she pushed in front of them and strode up to the stone griffon which stood quite still, a hideous grin chiseled on its severe looking face.

"Er—excuse me?" she asked sheepishly.

"Wha--?" The griffon responded. It creaked to life suddenly and, then, seeing who it was, it groaned, "oh, I was sleeping!"

"Never mind that," Demelza snapped, "tell me, have you let any students through lately?"

The stone griffon smiled slyly and said, "Perhaps…perhaps…but why on _earth_ should I enlighten _you_?"

Demelza frowned. "We don't have time for this, please. Er—the headmaster sent us!"

The stone griffon's eyes raised, "_Did_ he now?"

"Yes," Nick spoke up.

"Oh," the stone griffon said sarcastically, "if I had a knut for every time someone used that one on me, I'd be guarding a Gringotts vault instead of a school office!"

"Er—I don't think it's going to tell us anything," Sarah said, looking at Nick, "and why do you need to find Neville so badly all the sudden?"

"The traitor told the Carrows that he was in charge of the Room of Requirement, he might be in danger…_all_ the Muggle-borns might be in danger!"

"Oh," Mary said, "D'you think they really went to get the—"

But she was cut off as the stone griffon sprung to life and jumped aside, revealing the open door to Snape's study.

"Oh wow," Mary said, "it actually opened for us!"

"No," Demelza snapped, "it means someone's coming _out_! Act natural, it might be Professor Snape!"

Before they could move along further down the hallway, they were met by the beaming faces of Ginny and Neville, who was carrying a rather large parcel that was oddly sword-shaped.

"NEVILLE!" Demelza screamed, "Get OUT of here! They know! You have to get to the Room of Requirement now, before the Carrows force you to tell!"

"Wha—" Neville began, dazed, but Nick silenced him.

"Just go!"

"_Hold_ on," Ginny said, pulling Neville back by the arm, "_I_ know what's going on here… _you_ just want us to return the sword—"

"Of course not!" Demelza snarled, "we just want to help you get Neville to safety. It's your own fault if you get Cruciated for stealing the sword, we warned you."

For a moment Ginny and Demelza stood there, glaring at each other before Daniel spoke up.

"Neville, come on, let's go!"

Looking fearful, Neville obeyed, and he dashed around the corridor around the bend, and out of sight. Ginny looked enraged and tore off in the other direction, after having taken the sword from Neville's hands.

"Come on," Sarah said weakly, "Dinner…"

They had not even gone down the first flight of stairs when they heard Neville shout in surprise from behind the bend. Quietly, they snuck up from behind the wall and peered around the bend.

Neville was on the floor, apparently knocked down by Amycus Carrow, who was standing above him, his wandhand outstretched. Alecto was cackling with laughter from behind them. Scared looking students heading down to the Great Hall for dinner also passed by quickly, without giving Neville a second glance.

"Ah, Longbottom," Amycus sneered, "time for detention, I daresay…"

"Hold on," Nick whispered, "I have an idea. The Carrows won't know who it was…hold on, on my signal, fire Conjunctivitus Curses in their direction, okay?"

"But Nick—"

"One."

"We could get killed!"

"Two."

"What if it doesn't work—"

"THREE!"

A blur of five raised voices suddenly rang out through the corridor. After several flashes of multicolored light, the Carrows didn't know what hit them. Alecto was doubled over in pain, clutching her puffy sealed-shut eyes, while Amycus was knocked flat on the ground by the impact of the curse.

"Come on," Nick whispered. They quickly hurried up to the thunderstruck Carrows, who were still quite dizzy and disoriented and snatched up a very confused, yet grateful Neville Longbottom.

"I got the idea from the dueling we did in the D.A.," Nick explained as they hurried to the Room of Requirement, "from when I used it on Jordan. We've got to get Neville up to the Room of Requirement. The Carrows won't know who cursed them…they can't _see_."

After Neville had been safely secured into the Room of Requirement, Nick and the others scurried down to the Great Hall for dinner. All five of them sat down with Nick at the Ravenclaw table, thinking that it would be safest to talk there. After carefully persuading Sarah Adams to leave, Nick started up conversation.

"Wow," he said, "sooner or later, we'll all be in the Room of Requirement."

"I know," Mary said, rolling her eyes.

"That was good thinking, with the Conjunctivitus Curse, Nick," Sarah said admiringly, "I've never been able to do it well, though…"

"Thanks," Nick replied, "I thought it was good too—"

He was interrupted, however, by Christina, who pushed Sarah aside to make room for herself to sit down.

"Ginny's been caught," Christina said shortly, "Snape caught her with Gryffindor's sword in the Entrance Hall."

"No!" Mary gasped, "What did Snape do?"

"I was talking with Hagrid after Care of Magical Creatures," she explained, "he says Ginny will be serving detention with him—in the Forbidden Forest."

"Well that's not _that_ bad," Nick said urgently, "at least Snape didn't do anything worse…"

"See," Demelza chimed in, "I _told_ you, Snape's been helping us a lot—"

"Demelza—" started Mary angrily.

"Well, I can theorize, can't I?" Demelza finished hastily.

She then hastily changed the subject to Harry.

"I wonder what he's doing?" Daniel interjected, "probably something really dangerous, knowing him…"

"Uh-huh," Christina agreed, "maybe he's infiltrating You-Know-Who's inner circle!"

"Maybe he's building a weapon!" Sarah exclaimed, her eyes as big as galleons, "you know, something big and dangerous that he can take out the Death Eaters with!"

"Or maybe he's mixing some kind of potion that will make You-Know-Who weaker!" supplied Zoe.

Everyone looked at Demelza. "Or he could be dead," she said finally.

"No, I don't think so," Nick said, "I bet there would have been something in the _Prophet_, you know, except for this—" he pulled out Laura's copy of the _Daily Prophet_ that she had given him. On the front page was an enormous photo of Harry with the caption: 'WANTED ALIVE: TEN HUNDRED THOUSAND GALLEON REWARD.'

"I'm surprised he hasn't run into any Snatchers or Death Eaters yet," Sarah said.

"He's good," Daniel replied, "he knows his stuff, and he's got Hermione Granger with him, and everyone knows she's the smartest in our year."

Even still, Nick knew what each and every one of his friends were thinking. Harry Potter was the 'Chosen One' according to the _Prophet_ at least, and they needed him to finish off Voldemort more than ever now, so where was he? Was Aberforth right in saying that he showed cowardice and simply ran away and left some cock-and-bull story about a secret mission he had been given by Dumbledore behind to satisfy everyone? Still, Nick knew that the Boy Who Lived could not have possibly abandoned them…or _could_ he have…?


	9. Chapter 9 Potterwatch

Chapter 9 – Potterwatch Chapter 9 – Potterwatch

Autumn passed over Hogwarts quickly, leaves drifting around the school coming up from the Forbidden Forest. Soon, the grounds were encased in silvery white frost, which came quickly and bit angrily at Professor Sprout's Fanged Begonias, which she quickly moved inside the warmth of the greenhouses. Professor Sprout, however, had been in a very somber mood lately, as her best (and favorite) student, Neville Longbottom was not attending school any longer.

Nick thought about how the poor Muggle-borns would have to spend Christmas cooped up in the Room of Requirement without presents or letters from home. It made him feel rather ashamed really, because he would have that freedom, simply because of his blood status. He was walked across the frost-scorched grounds, shivering, with Demelza, Sarah, Daniel, and Mary. This weekend was the traditional Hogsmeade trip, in which all students third year and above were allowed to attend. The Carrows, however, in fear that their students might take advantage of the Hogsmeade trip and flee from their wrath, decided to limit the time that they were allowed to spend there.

"You know," Demelza said thoughtfully, "I really think we should get everyone in the D.A. to get the Muggle-borns presents for Christmas, don't you think?"

"That's a nice idea," Mary agreed.

The stores of Hogsmeade approached suddenly, looming overhead. Nick moaned as it started to sleet and the wind picked up. He pulled his cloak carefully around his face, to shield him from the weather. The others did the same. Daniel motioned towards the post office, saying that he and Mary had to mail a letter to their parents. They quickly dashed over, fighting the wind and sleet into the small building labeled, 'The Post Office, a Thousand Owls Waiting for _You_!'

Obviously wanting to get out of the horrendous weather, Demelza suggested that they go to Honeydukes, the sweet shop.

The shop was very crowded with Hogwarts students, and the harassed looking store employees were rushing back and forth from the basement, carrying up boxes of Peppermint Imps, Cockroach Cluster, Chocolate Frogs, and Fanged Fudge to please the hundreds of students who were reaching up, grabbing sweets, going clear off the shelves. It was nice and warm, though, save for the occasional fleeting winds of sleet that swarmed in whenever the door was opened.

"Hmmm," Nick said thoughtfully, "maybe we should get some big bags of sweets for the younger students. They're Muggle-born, so it'll be quite a surprise for them."

The others nodded in agreement. They went eagerly to the first rack of candy and sweets that they saw. The only person standing there was Christina, who was examining a small attractive, multicolored box that read, 'The new Drooble's Best Blowing Gum!

(Caution: Bubbles may cause the user to fly unexpectedly into the air, all collisions with birds, planes, or other flying objects is taken at user's own risk)'

"Oh hello!" Christina said vaguely, placing the box of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum back on the shelf, and then looking at it again added, "I wouldn't get this if I were you…it sounds too dangerous…"

Nick laughed and then noticed a rather familiar logo on a nearby box of sweets. Of course—

"Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes," he said, holding up the box, "I didn't know Fred and George were selling to Honeydukes!"

Fred and George Weasley were Ginny's elder twin brothers, who were a year out of Hogwarts themselves, and had taken a great interest in the joke shop business.

"Didn't they tell you?" Christina asked, "They tried to buy Zonko's as well, but it's all boarded up, see?"

She pointed out the window, where a large ominous building was barley visible in the sleet. A large sign was hanging sideways, as though completely forgotten. It read, 'Zonko's Joke Shop'. The windows were boarded up, and its paint was chipping.

"Maybe we can get them some Every Flavor Beans," Sarah suggested, "they're always fun."

After about a half an hour in Honeydukes, Demelza, Nick, Sarah, and Christina were supporting several overstuffed bags full of various sweets for the younger Muggle-borns who would spend Christmas in the Room of Requirement. After they left Honeydukes and braved the biting, freezing wind outside, Demelza followed Nick into Hogsmeade's small bookstore while Sarah and Christina went to The Three Broomsticks for some warm butterbeer.

The bookstore was damp and deserted. The fat old witch who owned the store came over hollering at Nick and Demelza for tracking in slush from the melting sleet all over their clothes.

"Look, lady," Demelza snapped, "Do you _want_ our business or not?"

This seemed to quiet the shop owner. Perhaps business wasn't doing too well. The bookshelves were crammed full of books of all shapes and sizes, but Nick and Demelza were the only Christmas shoppers. It was also damp and smelled strongly of cats. Suddenly Demelza wrinkled her nose in disgust and pointed to a table in the center of the shop which was piled with copies of the same book. Nick leaned forward to read the loopy cursive title which was written in a very repulsive shade of putrid, bright purple. A shining photo of Dumbledore was on the cover, complete with the twinkle in his brilliantly blue eyes. As Nick leaned closer, he was able to read the title, _The Life & Lies of Albus Dumbledore_. The life and…_lies_? Nick wrinkled his nose as Demelza had done. Whatever Albus Dumbledore may have been, he certainly was no liar. Further observation revealed that the author was none other than the infamous Rita Skeeter, who had an annoying knack for ruining someone's life through her writing.

"_Honestly_," Demelza rolled her eyes, "the things that woman will go through to get a story…"

"She can't expect people to actually _believe_ her, can she?" Nick asked.

"Nick, sometimes you're so _naïve_," Demelza replied, "some people believe anything they read about in the _Prophet_, and Rita's been getting a _lot_ of attention lately. And hey—what do you think about this for Daniel?"

She held out a rather large hardback book entitled, _A Wizarding Study of What Muggles Call "Cars"_. Nick laughed, and gave his approval. He was eagerly examining a book of complex spells for Laura.

"Hmmm," he pondered aloud, "I wonder what I should get for Ian…"

"How about _Twenty-five Reasons Why All Slytherins Aren't That Bad_?" Demelza laughed.

"No, I don't think so," Nick replied, "He doesn't exactly like to read…maybe I should just give him some of the Chocolate Frogs we got earlier…"

"Good idea," Demelza agreed.

When they arrived back at the castle, it was already dark and the storm had not ceased at all. In the Ravenclaw common room, Professor Flitwick was taking down the names of those who would be remaining at the castle for the holidays. Nick immediately signed up, along with Zoe, who was stroking her white fluffy cat in the corner. During their last D.A. meeting, all the members had decided to stay behind and keep the Muggle-borns company in the Room of Requirement. Nick wondered whether the Carrows would find it suspicious that a great number of people had decided to stay for the holidays.

The classes, however, were _not_ winding down as the holidays approached. Nick secretly hoped that they would cease the workload the week before the Christmas holidays, but it soon transpired that he had been hoping in vain. The class had just started to get the hang of Conjuring and Vanishing Spells in Transfiguration, and Professor McGonagall had informed them during their past class that they would need to master them to pass her N.E.W.T at the end of the year. Professor Flitwick, as well was zipping through the seemingly hundreds of charms they had to master before their N.E.W.T.s. In Astronomy, Professor Sinistra was collaborating her work efforts with Firenze, the centaur Divination teacher to decipher and teach the long and complicated ancient patterns of stargazing. Nick actually despised this aspect of Astronomy. It seemed like a lot of guesswork and a lot less fact: exactly the reason why he had dropped Divination last year. Professor Slughorn was also rushing through the entire textbook (_Extremely Advanced Potion Making_), hoping to somehow finish by the end of the year. Nick thought this would be nothing less of a miracle with his class. Jade Morse, to every one's surprise (and disappointment) had managed to pass her Potions owl, even though it was clearly her worse subject yet. Each afternoon in the dungeons, brought another misadventure. She had already gone through both of her replacement cauldrons and half the school's supply.

Arithmacy, however, had proven to be the most difficult subject by far. No one understood half of what Professor Vector said, and Nick had already read the entire textbook twice, to no improvement in his work. He spent long hours in the Room of Requirement during the evening hours, poring over his _Advanced Arithmacy: A Study of Wizarding Mathematics_ with Laura, who seemed to be the only person in the entire school who could grasp the formulas. She had every right to be in classes than some of the purebloods like Draco Malfoy, for instance, who had failed his fifth Arithmacy test in a row. The unfairness of it all was sickening.

"It's really quite simple," Laura explained one night in the Room of Requirement, after the lights were mostly extinguished and everyone had gone to bed except them,"you just can't forget the basic foundations we learned in third year."

"Thanks for explaining," Nick sighed, "but I think I have as much chance of passing my Arithmacy test tomorrow as the Carrows finally see the error of their ways…"

Laura laughed, "Then you'd better hope you remember these formulas."

Suddenly, they were interrupted by a loud shout of glee coming from the dormitories. Ian ran out of the boys' door, clutching a worn old radio, which was buzzing with static.

"Guys!" he exclaimed, "listen! I've been trying to tune in for _ages_, but I couldn't ever figure out the password…hang on, I've got to wake Jordan, I promised I would when I found it…and Neville will want to know too…"

He thrust the old radio on top of Laura's neat Arithmacy notes, and she frowned and carefully extracted her work and placed it in her bag. "I wonder what that was all about?"

"Not sure," Nick said, "I haven't heard the WWN for ages though…"

"WWN?" Laura pondered, "You mean the—"

"Wizard's Wireless Network, yeah," Nick answered, "it's the wizard equivalent of the Muggle radio."

"Oh."

She gasped as the door to the Room of Requirement burst open, and Demelza ran in quickly. She beamed as she saw Laura and Nick.

"You've got a WWN, great!" she said quickly, "it's Potterwatch, it's on tonight…"

"Potterwatch? So that's what's got Ian so excited," Laura said.

Demelza's face fell at once. "Oh," she said, "Ian's here?"

As if to answer her question, Ian appeared, running in excitement out of the dormitories, closely followed by Jordan, who had hastily pulled a sleeping gown over her pajamas, Neville, whose hair was untidy and disheveled, and the black rings on her eyes blending with his scarred and bloodied face, and Dan Honeycutt, who looked thoroughly grumpy.

"Quick! It's about to start, I found out the password, it's 'Fawkes'," Ian explained. At once, the WWN, which was playing Celestina Warlock's "You Charmed the Heart Right out of Me", switched instantly to a different program.

It had been the first time in weeks that Ian, Jordan, and Demelza had been in the same room as each other. Tension rose immediately, but just as Jordan opened her mouth and pointed in Demelza's direction, Ian held up his hand to silence her. "Hold on," he hissed, "it's about to start!"

Jordan looked like he had slapped her in the face, but she still was silenced. Potterwatch, or whatever it was called, had evidently started, and, seeing the intense excitement in everyone's faces, Nick directed his attention toward Ian's shabby little radio.

"Evening, faithful listeners, and welcome to Potterwatch," a voice declared from the radio, "I am River, your host this evening."

"Evening, River? It's nearly midnight!" another voice said. A kind of…_familiar_ voice…

"All right then, good _night_, happy?" came River's disgruntled reply.

"Very."

"Well then, before we get to_night_'s program underway," came River's voice, "we would like to tell you all that we won't be able to risk another airing until two weeks from now…the password will be 'Remus', got it?"

"It's a radio secret broadcast," hissed Ian, "it's run by the Order…they usually report stuff that the _Prophet_ leaves out…they've all got codenames, River's Lee Jordan, remember him? And the Fred and George usually do it too, and sometimes someone from the Order helps out…last time it was Tonks…"

But the others hissed back at him to be quiet, and he stopped talking at once.

"…Anyway, it's been confirmed that You-Know-Who's followers are taking part in Muggle-killings, which is kind of a sport for them…earlier this morning, a Muggle family was found dead in their car, which was severely damaged. The Muggle authorities were, of course, baffled, as there were no marks on their bodies, but members of the Order tell me that it was indeed the Killing Curse…"

"Thank you, River," said the unmistakable deep voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt, "we also would like to thank the Order of the Phoenix members who have selflessly protected their Muggle friends and neighbors by placing simple, yet helpful protective enchantments around their dwelling places."

"In—er—other news, the Death Eater administration of Hogwarts is apparently completely baffled by the escape of the majority of Muggle-borns at Hogwarts. In fact—er—it appears that no one knows where they are…which could either be good or bad, I s'pose. But please, if any of the escaped Muggle-borns are listening now, I would urge them to contact their families and inform them of your safety, as many of them have contacted us and are extremely worried."

"Thank you, Dilligrout," said a fourth voice.

"Hey—that was _my_ name!"

"It's not easy to come up with these codenames you know…"

"I'm sorry—I thought you said you were going to be 'Bludger'…"

"Alright!" said Kingsley, "so know let's hear from Bowtruckle with our new segment, Pals of Potter."

"Thank you, Royal," said another voice. Nick knew for sure that this was the voice of Remus Lupin, werewolf, Order of the Phoenix member, and their ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"Although Harry Potter's present location is unknown, we can be sure that he is indeed, alive, having spoke to him myself only months ago…we can also be sure that the _Prophet_ would have paraded his capture. But, his friends are paying dearly for supporting him. Only yesterday, Muggle-born Aurelia Snow was caught, officially trying to search out Potter single-handedly. Apparently she had decided to go into hiding at the beginning of the year with her family, but unfortunately was discovered by several Death Eaters. She is being held in Azkaban at the moment, and I am told that she was sporting many serious injuries when she was detained."

Beside him, Nick felt Demelza sink limply down into an armchair. She had been best friends with Aurelia…

"Other reports tell us that Luna Lovegood was also detained earlier this year in Hogwarts and that students Neville Longbottom and Jordan Fortin, both in their seventh year, were forced to flee, after being targeted by the _lovely_ Carrow siblings. If Jordan is listening now, please contact your mother…she is desperate for news."

"On a lighter note. The Carrows apparently sent Ministry Auror Dawlish after Neville's grandmother, Augusta Longbottom, in order to keep him in line—"

Nick felt Neville tense up behind him.

"—but she informs us from abroad that she is on the run, and Dawlish is still recovering in St. Mungo's. For now, that is all we have to report. There is still no news on Harry Potter's whereabouts. Remember, next air is in two weeks—er—as long as we aren't found out. Password's 'Remus', good night…"

Ian's shabby old radio suddenly faded back into static, and Nick could faintly hear Celestina Warbeck's rather hideous voice finishing her song on a high note that should be made illegal.

"So that's it I guess," Ian said, "we'll have to tune in next time…it'll be Christmas soon, though…"

"They're really brave to do that," Laura reflected admiringly, "they'd be dead if they got caught…"

The others nodded in agreement. Demelza, however looked very shaky. "_Aurelia_…" she muttered.

Ian and Jordan regarded her suspiciously and whispered something to each other. Nick thought he heard them say something about how Demelza might have reported Aurelia's whereabouts to Voldemort in the first place. Demelza had obviously heard them to, because in a blurred motion she was on her feet and advancing angrily upon Ian. Nick had never seen her so enraged. SMACK! In another slash of blurred motion, Ian was laying on the ground, overloaded my Demelza's forceful attack. He hand was still outstretched.

"Nothing like some good, old-fashioned, Muggle-dueling," she said affectionately, looking at her clenched fist. And then she rounded on Jordan, who was helping Ian to his feet. "I am SICK and TIRED of you turning everyone against me. YOU'RE acting like Slytherins and traitors a heck of a lot more than I am! If you don't want me, FINE. I'll never come here again. I'll spend Christmas with my equals, the _Slytherins_. It's what you wanted, wasn't it? At least _they_ haven't plotted against me. I actually was thick enough to think you were my friends…"

Without another word, she strode off, enraged and slammed the oak door open and stormed off down the hall.

Cursing and snatching up his old radio, Ian ran his hand around his sore face and returned to his dormitory. Jordan and Daniel followed suit. Soon, Nick was left alone with Laura and Neville, while an awkward silence was biting at them.

"Well—er—I think I'll just turn in…" Neville trailed off. He then walked sheepishly off into his dormitory.

Laura looked at Nick and said awkwardly, "Um—er—well, good luck with the Arithmacy test tomorrow…"

Obviously, she didn't want to discuss Demelza. "Oh," Nick replied, taken back, "Yes, thanks for the review."

Upon noticing that it was his cue to leave, Nick did so. The hallways were dark and gloomy, and Nick soon became quite fearful. If he were caught out of bounds by the Carrows, it would mean expulsion certainly, if not the Cruciatus Curse. Wondering faintly whether Ginny and Hagrid were done with their work in the Forbidden Forest, Nick carefully aroused the disgruntled Ravenclaw stone raven, answered the question correctly, and went straight to bed without even looking over his Arithmacy.

It was not until Astronomy the next day, the class which proceeded Arithmacy, that Nick began to grow nervous for the test. Deciding that knowing whether Pluto could foretell disaster or peace would not help him in later life, he discreetly pulled out his formula sheet and began to review. It was no use, however, whenever he looked at the formulas, Demelza kept popping up in his mind, blocking out Arithmacy. Nick felt sickeningly guilty, as he had not defended her the previous night. But, actually, Nick thought, sniggering to himself, it didn't appear that she needed help, after knocking Ian to the floor with one single punch.

"Mr. Southwick? Are you paying attention?" Professor Sinistra snapped suddenly, "this information will bound to appear on your N.E.W.T.s!"

"Uh—what—I mean, yes, of course, Professor," Nick replied quickly, arousing from his daydreams. He actually sincerely doubted that the examiner would be familiar with Pluto's love/hate relationship with Neptune.

The most pressing love/hate relationship in Nick's life, however, was Demelza. It appeared that it was the end of her friendship with anyone from the D.A. She even was ignoring Nick, though he knew that she knew he did not accuse her. On the whole, Nick found this to be very annoying. Countless times Nick had tried to invoke conversation, but Demelza always appeared to be absorbed in conversation with three or more Slytherins. Nick decided that if he could not talk to her during classes, that he should seek her out during dinner or the evening hours, but it appeared that Demelza was always in the Slytherin common room, avoiding everyone. During dinner, the Slytherins would simply not allow anyone that wasn't from their house to sit at their table, so overall, it was no use.

The rest of the day passed rather slowly. The Arithmacy test had not been very difficult indeed, for there were only a few moments when Nick wished he was being tutored in the Room of Requirement with Laura. Overall, it went very smoothly, Nick thought. In fact, he would not be surprised if he had achieved an 'E' for 'Exceeds Expectations', but wishing for 'O' (Outstanding) was a little too far of a jump.

Typically, when Nick entered the Great Hall for dinner, the rest of the school had already assembled. Choosing not to sit at the packed Ravenclaw table, Nick made his way to the Gryffindor table and chose seats next to Sarah Doucette, Sarah Wardell, Christina, and Seamus.

"Hi Sarah," he said to Sarah Doucette, "how are you holding up? Er—that was horrible about Crabbe Cruciating you in front of the whole class—"

"It's okay," she replied, but certainly not looking okay, "I got better fast. It's more important just to not fight it, we can't let them know that they've gotten to us, or they will have won, right?"

"Er—sure," Nick replied, secretly thinking that he would rather stay out of trouble than being Cruciated.

"Anyway," Christina said suddenly, "I came to tell you about something—Hagrid's invited us all to well—" she leaned in closer "—what he calls a 'Potter Party' in his cabin two nights from now…"

"Oooh," gasped Pavarti Patil, "that could be really dangerous if we got caught though…it sounds a lot like a 'Support Harry Potter and Get Cruciated Party' to me…I don't think it's worth it…"

"_I _ think it's a great idea," Christina said coldly, "and if your too chicken enough to come Pavarti, you don't have too. People keep forgetting what Harry's trying to do for the world. It's time we show him some support."

"Well, I s'pose I'll come," Sarah Doucette said nervously, "just as long as it's not too loud and in the middle of the night, so it doesn't attract the Carrows' attention…"

"It's at midnight," Christina explained, "and I suppose the only problem we'll have is getting down there without being spotted. Then we'll be safe."

"Oh whatever, Christina," Seamus teased, "_you_ just want to go to see the new unicorn foals Hagrid bred…"

"Oh well," Christina admitted, "they are a large part of the attraction, I must say…"

It was well known that Christina loved magical creatures, especially unicorns. Everyone looked towards Nick, who hadn't spoken yet. Sarah Wardell also squirmed nervously at his side.

"Well," she croaked, "I—er—wouldn't want to get caught but…well, it could be _rebellious_…and I've never really done anything like that before…it _could_ be fun, I s'pose…"

"Yeah," Nick agreed, "it'll be great to do something right under Snape's nose again…another incident like loosing the Muggle-borns will make his master mad…say, he might even get _fired_!" he finished excitedly.

"Yeah!" Seamus agreed, then he added hopefully, "oh, he might even get _killed_!"

"Seamus!" Sarah breathed in shock.

"Well," said Seamus grumpily, "I can hope, can't I?"

"Maybe we should invite Neville, and some of the Muggle-borns," suggested Christina.

"No!" Sarah Doucette declared at once, "we shouldn't risk it!"

Nick personally agreed with Sarah. It would be very disappointing if their hard work was sacrificed in vain to attend Hagrid's 'Potter Party'. Obviously done discussing the matter for now, they turned back to their dinners.

"Hey," Seamus said suddenly, "did any of you listen to Potterwatch last night? I did in my dormitory….which, well…I'm alone in, after Harry and Ron left, and Dean's on the run and Neville's in the room…" he trailed off sadly.

"I did," Nick said, "Ian found out the password last night."

"Good," Seamus said, "it's really good, isn't it? If I wasn't trapped up in Hogwarts, I would try to do something for it…but I would pick a better codename…" he laughed.

"Did you hear about Aurelia?" Christina asked quietly, "I was really sad when I heard it…I bet Demelza was too, weren't they friends?"

"Yeah, yeah they were," Nick said sadly. It was the first time anyone had mentioned Demelza in days.

"She's been avoiding us lately," Sarah Doucette said, "I wonder why…"

"She and Ian had another row," Nick said quickly, "she's tired of them accusing her of selling them out to Snape every time she's around."

"Oh," Sarah replied, "that's too bad. D'you really think she's the traitor? She was always so nice…"

"Well," Seamus said finally, "she _is_ a Slytherin, and they're all really manipulative, you know…"

"I wonder how Harry's doing," Nick said in haste, hoping to change the subject.

"Yeah," Seamus said, "there hasn't been anything about him on Potterwatch, ever since they apparently infiltrated the Ministry."

"_Really_?" Nick asked, "how did they manage to do that?"

"Well—er—the reports are a little confused," Seamus explained, "all I heard is that they think Harry was involved. Anyway, they sure did baffle Umbridge. She's the head of the Muggle-born Registration Committee now, did you hear? No? Well anyway, all of the Muggle-borns she was interrogating have escaped after someone released a stag patronus on the dementors that were guarding them. And that's why they think Harry's involved. Who else can produce a stag patronus other than—"

"The man with the lightning scar," Sarah Doucette laughed, "I hope he's alright. And Ron and Hermione too…"

"I'm sure they're fine," Nick answered.

"Well, when he returns to Hogwarts it'll be great!" Christina exclaimed, "we can fight back and steal Hogwarts back from the Carrows! It'll be great!"

On his way back to the Ravenclaw common room that evening, Nick highly doubted that they would get a chance to rid the Carrows and Snape from the school until Voldemort himself was defeated.


	10. Chapter 10 Demelza's Loyalties

Hi

Hi! Wow, I'm so excited! This is like one of the most fun things I've done all summer—writing "It Happened at Hogwarts". I'm just writing this to say that this will be the tenth chapter! That means that I'm halfway there! I intend to make it twenty chapters, but maybe a few more…we'll see how the plot goes. After the halfway mark it just gets more and more interesting…Enjoy it!

**Chapter 10 – Demelza's Loyalties**

As Nick dressed and exited his dormitory the next morning, a wonderful sight was visible through the high windows of Ravenclaw tower. The first years, who had not seen the magnificent winter views from Ravenclaw Tower, were exclaiming un awe and pointing to the beautiful mountain scenery. It was true: the mountains and grounds were covered in a heavy blanket of snow, giving the appearance of being covered in whipped cream. In the distance, Nick could see Hagrid, the oversized half-giant gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher hacking down the usual twelve gigantic Christmas trees for the Great Hall. As he hacked them, miniature-mountains of snow fell down as well, landing in large heaps on the ground.

Even as Nick walked down through the hallway, it was evident that the teachers had started their decorating for Christmas. Fake magical snow and frost were laying everywhere, sometimes making students slip and then fall with deafening cracks on the stone floors, and Mr. Filch had put Santa hats on the many suits of armor that lined the halls. As he entered the Great Hall for breakfast, Professor Flitwick was Conjuring brightly colored baubles out of his wand, and placing them, as though hanging from the ceiling with no string or other means to hold them up.

Nick thought fleetingly of joining Demelza at the Slytherin table, but decided against it as she was looking quite murderous. Instead, he sat with his house, next to Zoe, who was piling maple syrup on her pancakes.

"Hullo," she said gloomily, as he sat down. She looked very tired, as if she had been awake all night.

"Why so glum?"

"Arithmacy," she said shortly, "I was up ALL night studying, and I still don't understand it for my test today…"

"Vector's giving you the test today, the last day before the holidays?!"

"Uh-huh, it's horrible…"

She quickly stuffed pancakes into her mouth. Before Nick could offer her any help, however, the bell rang, signaling the start of the first class. Quickly gobbling up the last pieces of his toast, Nick scurried out of the packed Great Hall, narrowly missing knocking over an extremely disgruntled Amycus Carrow.

Throughout the day, several of the teachers showed great holiday spirit. During Charms, Professor Flitwick allowed the class to play games using some of the charms they had learned earlier that year. In Astronomy, Professor Sinistra, who was slightly distraught (possibly because Firenze, the handsome centaur had stopped collaborating classes with her) informed them that they could have a free period to study. Personally, Nick was very grateful that she had decided to give up studying Pluto's rather annoying personality.

Some of the teachers, however, worked them to the last minute. Professor McGonagall was no exception. During Transfiguration, they had progressed from Conjuring rats and tarantulas, and were now working on much more difficult animals and even small furniture. In Arithmacy as well, the only mention of Christmas was when Professor Vector had passed out a new complex formula chart, and absentmindedly wishing the class a "Merry Christmas". Nick could care less, however, since he had just received top marks on his Arithmacy test from the day before.

The most eventful class by far, came in the form of a bleak afternoon in the equally bleak and gloomy dungeons. It was the last class before the Christmas holidays, and it was clear to see that everyone was eager for the bell to ring on Professor Slughorn's time. Nick was sitting in his table in the center of the room, next to Sarah Wardell, Christina, and Daniel, who had all happily chosen seats next to Nick, as his Ian and Laura were his last two Potion partners.

The students had just settled in and were waiting for class to start (Professor Slughorn was nearly always late). Nick had already gotten his cauldron out and was preparing his potion ingredients. It was well known that Christina despised Potions, as she was wearing a distraught face, not unlike Professor Sinistra's.

Nick glanced over to the where the Slytherins were sitting, trying to find Demelza. She wasn't hard to find at all, sitting in the front row next to (to Nick's deepest disgust) Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy, who had taken up the annoying habit of strutting around the school lately. There was a pattern to this, Nick had discussed nights ago with Laura. It seemed that whenever Voldemort was favoring Malfoy's parents, he was very prideful, but yet he became very sulky when they weren't in Voldemort's favor. Today, of course, they must be doing very well because Malfoy was talking in a loud voice to Demelza, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"…my Father of course is very happy about the school's new headmaster—" he was saying in pride. He seemed a lot more keen to talk about his dear old Death Eater father when the school was run by Voldemort anyway "—yeah, I always recommended Professor Snape in the first place, and with my father being big with the school—I have a lot of influence…"

Pansy Parkinson, as usual was regarding Malfoy with looks of deepest admiration, just as though he had slain a dragon, or something similar. To Nick's astonishment, however, Demelza was smiling too.

"Oh, Draco, you've got so many good connections…" she said, beaming at him.

Malfoy looked rather pleased with this. He puffed out his chest. "Well, yeah," he declared, "Snape's the best headmaster this school has ever seen, even though those sly little Mudbloods managed to get away from him, yeah that was a disappointment…but they'll be found soon, you mark my words, and then…oh…I can't wait to see what they'll do to them. Normally, they'd go to Azkaban, but since they were evading the law…they might even get…killed," he finished dramatically.

His Slytherin onlookers laughed. Even Demelza, though Nick was glad to see, her laugh sounded very forced.

"And did you hear about Longbottom?" shrieked Pansy, "oh, I hope they'll kill him too when they find him!"

"Oh no," Malfoy said importantly, "Professor Carrow told me personally that he was a special case… They say that they're both going to Cruciate him at the same time, and watch him shudder and snap and finally go insane like his dear old parents, still in St. Mungo's of course…idiots, brains addled forever since Auntie Bella got to them—"

It happened very fast. One moment Malfoy was gloating loudly to his Slytherin onlookers, and the next he was on the ground being violently pummeled into the stone floor. It was all a flash of blurry movement and light to Nick, but when it cleared, he could faintly see the outline of an enraged Seamus Finnigan attacking Malfoy, along with Daniel Honeycutt, who had been sitting behind him. Malfoy was screaming angrily at them, while thrashing to reach his wand. Seamus and Daniel, had perhaps forgotten their wands in their blinding rage, or perhaps they simply thought it would leave a more memorable mark on Malfoy to fight him with their bare hands. Beside him, Sarah gasped and Christina dropped her vial of frogspawn, which shattered on the floor.

In an instant, Crabbe and Goyle had come to Malfoy's aid they were working hard to pull Seamus off of a bloodied Malfoy. Either they had forgotten about their wands as well, or were too thick enough to cast any spells. Nick thought that the latter was more realistic. Pansy Parkinson was shrieking and immediately went running out of the class to fetch Professor Slughorn. Demelza had backed away slowly, trying not to catch the furious gazes of Nick and everyone else in the D.A. who was in the classroom.

"Shouldn't someone do something?" Sarah asked timidly.

"I don't think so," Nick said, "personally, I'm enjoying it."

Christina had completely forgotten her shattered vial of frogspawn, which was disintegrating her shoes. Instead, she was yelling things like, "Kill 'im, Seamus!" and "You got him, Dan!"

Suddenly, Seamus, who was sporting a bleeding lip, looked up menacingly at Demelza, who was retreating rather nervously back to the cold, stone wall.

"And you—" he croaked, "You're just as bad as him—" he gestured to Malfoy, who was lying unconscious on the ground, bleeding badly "—you filthy traitorous—"

But whatever insult Seamus had in store for Demelza, they didn't find out, because Crabbe suddenly snatched Seamus around the neck, and he couldn't breathe, let alone, fire insults. It was probably for the best, though, as Demelza had fallen against the dungeon wall, and had gone very white. Meanwhile, Goyle had Dan trapped in a headlock.

"What is the meaning of this!?" screamed a voice suddenly. Pansy had returned, Professor Slughorn in her wake, "Miss Parkinson tells me Finnigan and Malfoy have been--?"

His answer had obviously found, as he glanced Malfoy's bloodied, unconscious body, Dan trapped in Goyle's headlock, and Seamus going very pale, gasping for breath as Crabbe's beefy hand was clenched around his neck.

"Boys, boys release them immediately!" Slughorn bellowed, "I'll have no Muggle dueling in my class! Now, please…I don't want to have to report you to…you know what their punishments are like…but…well…could someone take Mr. Malfoy up to the Hospital Wing? Miss Parkinson? Thank you…" he trailed off.

He walked nervously to the front of the room, but before he could reach it, however, the door to his dungeon classroom burst open and Alecto Carrow stepped in, glaring at him.

"Good afternoon, Horace," she said horribly to Professor Slughorn.

"Er—yes, hello, Alecto," croaked Professor Slughorn nervously, "Well…um…I'm—er—kind of in the middle of a class right now—"

"Oh, you were, Horace, well, I was just passing by and heard a most disruptive commotion coming from this classroom, and came to investigate."

"Er—a commotion?" It was clear that Slughorn did not want to refer Dan and Seamus to the Carrows to be Cruciated. It was also well known among the students that he both loathed and was terrified of the Death Eaters.

Some of the students had nervously tried to move in the way of the fight scene, but Alecto spotted the trouble quickly. Her eyes darted from Malfoy's bloody, unconscious body to Seamus, who was massaging his neck, sporting many cuts, bruises and scrapes, and Dan, who had just been released from Goyle's headlock.

"Boys, boys…have we been fighting?" cackled Alecto, and then, once discovering the identity of the unconscious body, she grew very enraged, "and Lucius' son too…" She looked hideously angry, her pug-faced contorted, her nostrils flaring as she turned to Slughorn.

"Am I aware, Horace, that you have permitted fighting in your class?"

"Oh, no, never," Slughorn said quickly, "I wasn't here…still—er—preparing for class an—"

"Very well," Alecto continued, "and are you aware that being co-Head of Discipline in this school, that all rule-breaking is to be reported to me? Or am I to understand that you do not feel that this rule applies to you?"

"Oh no, of course not," Slughorn stuttered, "I was—er—just about to fetch your brother actually, to—er—report them…"

"I will take them from here," she snapped, "Finnigan! Honeycutt! You will follow me. Mr. Malfoy will be taken to the Hospital Wing—and of course—" she glanced at Crabbe and Goyle "—there will be no punishment for the selfless Slytherins who came loyally to the aid of their attacked friend."

She had almost left the room, Seamus and Dan at her heels, when she looked at Slughorn menacingly and added, "I would be careful, Horace, of whose parents' childrem are attacked in your class—you'll find that I am not as forgiving as others…" she finished dramatically and left.

Professor Slughorn looked horrible. He was twittering over and mumbling things under his breath. It took him about five solid minutes before he realized he had a class to teach, as everyone was looking up expectant at him.

"Honestly," he mumbled, "the woman doesn't think I can handle one small fight on my own…well…I'll…"

As he trailed off once more, Nick thought privately that it had been a little more than a small fight.

"Alright, then," Slughorn said at last, finally regaining his composure, "er—I was going to do something rather enjoyable before the holidays…but it hardly seems like the appropriate mood… So, then, we'd better open our textbooks to page one hundred and thirty-nine and try to brew the Fertilization Potion…"

Within moments, the class had returned to normal. Once Christina had noticed her frogspawn eating at her melting shoes, she screamed and quickly repaired her broken vial with a wave of her wand. But one could not call a normal Potions class "normal" in any way. In fact, just as Nick was cutting up his lacewing flies and bowtruckle twigs, a loud explosion sounded from the corner of the room where Jade Morse sat alone, and (moments ago) was stirring her potion. Seconds later, Professor Slughorn had emerged from the smoke carrying an unconscious Jade out of the flames. Upon announcing that she would have to stay in the hospital wing for several weeks, there was some cheering, as it was usually life-threatening to have her in any of your classes.

"That was really brave of Seamus and Dan to do that," Christina said admiringly, "Why, I might have helped them even, if it wasn't during class and all."

"Oooh, but they'll get in so much trouble," Sarah declared.

"Uh-huh," agreed Daniel DeLorenzo, "they'll get Cruciated, no doubt. Malfoy's father's a Death Eater. The Carrows will probably be really mad."

"Alecto sure was already," supplied Nick. It seemed like the Cruciatus Curse was the most likely punishment, if not Azkaban…or…well…Nick hated to think about it, but death. "You don't think they'll kill them, d'you reckon?"

"No," Christina said firmly, "they wouldn't want to spill magical blood and Seamus is pureblood, they'll have it on record and everything. And your potion's on fire, Daniel," she finished calmly.

Sure enough, Daniel's small pathetically clumpy substance in the bottom of his cauldron was aflame.

"Wha—oh!" Daniel quickly, "well, it's supposed to do that… step thirty-seven says—"

"That's because you're on the wrong page," Sarah said smartly, tapping Daniel's open book.

"Oh…oh, right," he said angrily and he extinguished the fire with the Torrent Charm. The Torrent Charm… Hadn't it only been days ago when Nick had worked on it with Demelza? Demelza. How could she have acted so much like…like…a Slytherin? Well, she was a Slytherin, of course, but Nick thought for sure that she was different. She had befriended students from other Houses, especially Gryffindors, which Slytherins typically did not do. Was she perhaps just pretending to befriend the other Slytherins to annoy the D.A. members into thinking that she wasn't the traitor? She certainly did seem to be sincerely embarrassed when Seamus had accused her. It was looking more and more like she could actually be the one who sold them out to the Carrows and Snape.

After Potions class had ended, Nick was officially on the Christmas holidays. It felt like an enormous weight of stress had been lifted from his shoulders. He would certainly enjoy the long break from his schoolwork, but had a strange sinking feeling that the workload would intensify after Christmas, as the looming giant, N.E.W.T testing, was approaching. Nick knew that he probably should have started studying by now, but felt like he had more pressing matters.

Him and the D.A. members were preparing a grand Christmas morning festivities for the Muggle-borns, who Nick hoped would be pleasantly surprised. They had bought the candy at Honeydukes for the younger children, and had chosen more personal gifts for the older students. They had also planned an enormous feast with Aberforth, who would send the food through Ariana's passageway with Neville. Neville had also been planning for weeks, and actual snowball fight within the Room of Requirement.

"Well, it will be quite simple," he was explaining to Nick and Laura in the armchairs of the Room of Requirement one night, "we just need to know what to ask the Room for, but you have to need it, that's the problem."

They had already ruled out Summoning the snow from outside, as it would look very suspicious and were toying around with the idea of possibly Conjuring it instead. The problem was, none of them were competent enough at Conjuring Spells to produce the desired amount of snow. Let alone Vanish it when they were finished.

"Oh, I don't think we'll need to worry about getting rid of it when we're finished," Neville explained, "we'll need to use the Room for just sitting and talking in the chairs again, so it'll get rid of the snow itself, once we're finished.

"I'VE GOT IT!" declared Laura suddenly, "we can produce water using the Augumenti Charm and then Transfigure it into snow…it'll just be a simple Switching Spell…and then perhaps we can find a spell to make it unmeltable…"

"Good idea," Neville agreed, "we'll do it on Christmas, how about? After—" he stopped suddenly, as the Christmas presents were a surprise for Laura as well.

"After what?" she asked suspiciously.

Nick woke up early the day before Christmas and went straight down to the Great Hall for breakfast. It was unusually less crowded, as it was the Christmas holidays, and Nick was pleased to see Demelza sitting alone at the Slytherin table, not surrounded by Malfoy and the others. Nick was alone at the Ravenclaw table, except for some third year girls, who were sitting at the front of the table. He was just spreading jam over his toast when someone landed in the seat next to him. It was Demelza.

She looked like she had sincerely debated joining him and looked as if she might leave any second. After five minutes of awkward silence, and Nick determinedly looking at his toast, she spoke.

"I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!" she yelped loudly, making the third year girls turn around and look in their direction.

"Er—huh?" Nick said nervously. If Demelza had wanted his attention, she certainly had succeeded.

"I can't stand hanging around Malfoy and those other…" she trailed off, making a rather violent hand gesture.

"Well," Nick said coldly, "maybe if you wouldn't choose to hang around them so much, and stayed with your true friends, you wouldn't feel that way."

"You think I can hang around with the D.A.?" she cried, "Of course I can't! Not after what Seamus said, now they all think I'm the traitor!"

"Are you?"

"Of COURSE not!"

"Well, that's not what it looks like."

"I'm sorry if you see it that way, then."

"SEE it that way!" Nick yelled. It was uncharacteristic of him actually, usually he was quite cool and collected, "You didn't WANT people to see it that way? After you've been flocking around Malfoy and his little gang? Let me tell you something, Demelza, their parents are DEATH EATERS! Of course people aren't going to trust you, if those are your kind of friends!"

Demelza too, had been shocked that Nick could yell. "Well," she said hotly, "I-er—guess you're kind of right. I have been doing it just because I'm well, very angry at them. I've been their friends for six whole years, Nick! I've been your friend for six whole years, and I had no idea you would just turn on me like this all the sudden—"

"I never really did think you were the traitor though," Nick said quickly, hoping to prove that someone still did trust her a little bit, "and Laura—"

"Oh well, you'll even trust a Death Eater," Demelza said, rolling her eyes, "you've got this rather annoying ability of seeing—"

"—Good in everyone?" Nick finished, "yeah, so I've heard…"

"Well, yeah, it's true," Demelza replied.

"Why don't you come to the Room of Requirement tomorrow? It'd be a lot better than spending it with the Slytherins," said Nick, ignoring her last comment.

"No," Demelza said flatly, "they'd probably try to kill me if I took one step in there…"

"Oh, well, I don't think they'd do—"

"I think they would. Remember—you've got that—"

"YES! I KNOW, THANK YOU," Nick said loudly, "Anyway, Happy Christmas, and I hope you decide to come and join us. It'll be a lot of fun—we're planning a snowball fight, although I'm not sure it'll work out very well…"

"Wow," Demelza exclaimed, "good luck with that. Anyway, I'd better go…mail a Christmas letter to my parents, you know…"

And without another word, she rose and left, leaving Nick quite alone with his uneaten toast.


	11. Chapter 11 A Quiet Christmas

**Chapter 11 – A ****Quiet**** Christmas**

It was the most beautiful, calm, and peaceful Christmas morning that Nick had not known for a long time. He was alone in his dormitory when he awoke at four o'clock in the morning. The majority of the Ravenclaws had gone home for the Christmas holidays, but Nick and the D.A. stayed behind. The plan was to rise early on Christmas morning to deliver the presents under the large Christmas tree that Mary, Daniel, and Nick, through combined efforts had managed to Conjure.

Quickly Nick dressed, reveling in the excitement of the day to come. He quickly grabbed the large parcel, which was chalk-full of Honeydukes sweets for the younger Muggle-borns. He descended the spiral staircase to meet Zoe, in the common room, and they would then proceed to the Room of Requirement.

Zoe was in fact, already waiting for him, with her enormous fluffy white cat purring contentedly on her lap. She was dozing off, apparently, but then darted to her feet when Nick arrived, obviously forgetting that her cat was sleeping on her lap. It hissed angrily and ran up the spiral staircase and into the dormitory.

"G'morning," she said sleepily, "Shall we go, then? I picked out some presents so far—look!" She picked up a small brown box that was laying innocently at her feet. Inside it were what appeared to be several white furballs with Christmas ribbon tied around their necks.

"My cat, Rowena, had kittens," she explained, "aren't they so cute?" She patted one affectionately, "I've already picked out who they're for…you'll see!"

Beaming at her white, fluffy kittens, Zoe lead Nick out of the common room and into the dark, deserted corridor.

"Oh—Happy Christmas, by the way," she said, and without waiting for Nick to reply, she continued, "oh, it's just way to early for this."

"I doubt we'll get caught—look," explained Nick. He pointed down the dark hall to a small wooden chair in which Professor Sinistra was snoring in, fast asleep, "it looks like it was her turn to patrol the hallways—er—well, if you call sleeping patrolling, anyway."

Zoe chuckled, "I guess we're fine, then."

For the most part, she was right. They reached the sixth floor with no difficulties, save for barley missing discovery by Peeves, who was zooming throughout the corridors singing Christmas songs (with rather rude replacement lyrics) at the top of his lungs.

Finally, they reached the grand oak doors to the Room of Requirement, which had just appeared out of thin air for them to enter. The Room was very quiet. Apparently none of the Muggle-borns had awoken yet. Instead, Mary and Daniel were busily Conjuring up baubles and ornaments out of their wands and Sarah Wardell was making them zoom lazily up onto the Christmas tree with her wand. Christina had arrived with many magical creatures for the décor as well, as she had a great love for them. She released an entire box of live fairies onto the tree, making it appear to be lit up.

"Ooh, they're so cute!" Lavender Brown exclaimed, reaching out to grasp one.

"Wait!" Christina warned, but it was too late. Lavender yelped out in alarm as the fairy clenched its teeth onto her finger.

"They bite," said Christina shortly, "you'd best steer clear of them. But they make good ornaments, though."

Lavender did not look very reassured as she massaged her bleeding finger, backing stealthily away from the fairies, who were swarming throughout the Christmas tree happily.

"I also brought some more magical creatures to give as Christmas gifts," Christina explained. She motioned towards a huge box that was jerking back and forth violently. Nick privately hoped that Christina did not have one for him. She beamed admiringly at the moving box.

More people had entered the Room of Requirement by now. Parvati Patil, and her twin sister, Padma, had arrived carrying large boxes of tinsel, a bloodied, tortured-looking Seamus and an equally wounded Dan had arrived to general applause for their beating on Malfoy. Lavender placed her arm around Seamus admiringly and asked him to retell the story of the Carrows' detention.

Although the Carrows had probably been horrible to them, Nick highly doubted that they had unleashed an army of flesh-hungry chimeras on Seamus, who single-handedly killed all of them and saved a helpless Dan, who was already being eaten by one. But as Lavender tightened her grip around him, the stories became more and more elaborate, and even still more daring as Parvati and Padma followed Lavender's lead.

At five o'clock, Sarah Doucette, Nikki, and Irene had entered, along with Erin Gilbert, a Gryffindor sixth year with short, curly black hair and tan skin, who was just becoming rather sympathetic to the D.A., after she was invited by Sarah Doucette. Neville, too had just come out of the boys' dormitory.

"Good morning, everybody," he said, beaming at them, "why don't we put our presents out underneath the tree, and we can make them trail across the room, it'll be a great surprise for them…"

Obediently, everyone pulled out their gifts, and placed them underneath the giant Christmas tree. Suddenly, the bleak Room of Requirement was transformed into a Christmas wintery wonderland, with seemingly hundreds of brightly wrapped, shining gifts laying about. Christina's fairies, which danced merrily around, were taking on

the effect of being millions of little fireflies.

Even Seamus had stopped telling his detention tales (the most recent one being about a three headed Cyclops) and looked in awe across the Room.

"It's amazing!" declared Christina in awe, "they're going to love it!"

Just then Kim Spencer came in, clutching an enormous clump of letters. She looked very gleeful. "I've written to almost all their parents!" she explained, "and they sent back some small letters, but I've been switching owls a lot and moving my position so the Carrows wouldn't get suspicious."

Just then, a small cry of delight came from the girls' dormitory entrance. It was little Katrina, her eyes as wide as bowling balls. She gasped in utter delight and looked from face to face of Nick and the other D.A. members who looked at her, beaming, in spite of themselves. Yes, it would truly be a great Christmas for the Muggle-borns. Katrina, apparently did not know what to do. After about five whole minutes of standing there with her jaw dropped, brown eyes wide, in her purple nightgown and untidy hair and rosy cheeks, she gave a sort of yelp and ran back into her dormitory, screaming:

"Rosalie! ROSALIE! TIFFANY! WAKE UP! IT'S FATHER CHRISTMAS! HE CAME!"

Christina laughed loudly as Katrina reappeared, pulling the hands of two bewildered first year girls. One of them had red puffy eyes and blonde hair, and was fighting to free herself from Katrina's eager grasp. The other had dark brown hair and was struggling to pull on her glasses to see. They too, however, became bewildered upon seeing the piles and piles of presents waiting for them

"Are—are—_these_ for us?!" Katrina's blonde-haired friend gasped, dumbfounded.

Before any of the D.A. could respond, however, Katrina spoke.

"Of course they are, Rosalie! And ha! You didn't believe in Father Christmas anyway! Ooh, I hope you don't get _coal_!" she said dramatically.

The blonde girl, called Rosalie looked mortified.

"Well," declared Katrina's other friend, "we _did_ tell you he existed, Rosalie…"

"What's going on!" a voice said sharply from the girls' dormitory, "Katrina? Rosalie? Tiffany? I thought I told you to be quiet, we're trying to get some—"

Laura had arrived on the scene, as she clutched her heart as her words failed her. She looked around admiringly at the members of the D.A., who were sitting and standing around.

Finally, she managed to say, "Did you do all this?"

Katrina looked up at Laura and said testily, "You're just like Rosalie, how many times to I have to tell you that Father Christmas—"

Katrina continued on, but Laura caught Nick's eye and smiled understandingly.

"Of course he did, Katrina," she said, patting the young girl on the shoulder, "But wait! We've got to wake up the others, c'mon!"

Without another word, Laura had gone off into the dormitory screaming with glee, just as Katrina had moments ago. Finally, when the girls were slowly emerging from the dormitory, pulling on robes and cloaks, the boys started to appear to, and were thoroughly excited. Soon, all of the Muggle-borns were sitting excitedly around the Christmas tree, warming up with the heat coming from the grand fireplace, which was cackling merrily with flames, which Seamus had just ignited with his wand.

"Well, should we start now?" Ian asked impatiently, gazing eagerly at a rather large gift, which sat in front of him and had his name on it.

"I s'pose," Christina answered vaguely, while levitating mistletoe up to hang from the ceiling.

Suddenly, the Room of Requirement was full of the sounds of crackling and crinkling of wrapping paper. Remarks of delight could also be heard from around the Room. Nick chose to sit down in front of the grand fireplace with Laura and Ian.

"Hmm," Laura remarked, "it's great that everyone's here. It's going to be a lot of fun, and then we've got the snowball fight… but hey, where's Demelza?"

"Er—well," Nick started nervously, "I—er—invited her to come, but she—"

"Probably refused because she starting to find out we're not as thick as she it, and don't trust her?" Ian supplied sarcastically.

"Well—er—no," Nick said, rather angrily, "but, Laura, she's been hanging with the Slytherins a lot, and yesterday…"

So Nick explained to Ian and Laura the eventful Potions class that they had had a few afternoons ago. Ian muttered, "Traitorous scum!" when Nick explained how she stood up for Malfoy while he was insulting Neville's parents.

"Honestly," Laura interjected, "doesn't she know that hanging around the Slytherins are just going to make us more apt to think she's the traitor?"

"She said she was just doing it to be rebellious, you know, make us a bit jealous even, maybe," explained Nick.

"Jealous?!" Ian said loudly, "well I know how I feel about that backstabbing little Slytherin, but it's certainly not jealousy!"

"Well, yeah, we know," Nick said hotly, "but what can we do?"

He stopped the conversation because several of Katrina's first year friends had opened their candy they had bought for them at Honeydukes.

"Ooh, it's shiny!" said Rosalie in awe, "I've never had Bertie Botte's Every Flavor Beans before?"

"You'd better be careful," warned Jordan, who was sitting next to Katrina and her friends, "they mean every flavor, if you aren't careful—"

It was too late. Rosalie had just bitten into a repulsive looking grayish orange bean and coughed, yelping.

"Ugh! It tastes like vomit!" she cried.

Ian sniggered. Over where the Hufflepuffs were sitting, the pudgy first year boy, Brock Bubar, was chasing a Chocolate Frog around the room and had toppled over onto Lavender Brown, who was talking to Parvati by the Christmas tree.

The first years had a grand time discovering the Wizarding candy, but the older students probably had the most fun watching them. Several times, unsuspecting first years had risen to the ceiling with enormous, hot air balloon sized bubbles coming out of their mouths. Nick suspected that someone had indeed bought the New Best Drooble's Blowing Gum. Some Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes candy had made it into the gifts as well, and the results were quite amusing. The most memorable, however, was when Laura innocently offered a cookie to Ian, while unbeknownst to him, she had expertly concealed a Canary Cream in its center. It took Ian ten whole minutes to shed all of his feathers and join in the laughter.

The present opening party lasted for several hours. Thankfully, however, it was very early in the morning and the Carrows would not take attendance until Christmas tea, which was later in the afternoon.

Nick had received many presents so far, including some new spellbooks, a new copy of his favorite book, A History of Magic by his favorite historian and friend, whom he had met once before, Bathilda Bagshot. He cringed a little when Christina came hurrying up to him, struggling to lift what appeared to be a very large and heavy wrapped package, labeled: To: Nick, From: Christina

Nervously, Nick said, "Er—thanks, Christina." He watched as she beamed at him. He anxiously opened the box, as Laura and Ian quickly inched away from him on either side. It appeared to be a small tank. It was filled with water to the brim. Inside it, two hideous brown fish-like creatures with round pudgy bodies, not unlike balloons, and two long legs with webbed feet, which stuck out from underneath them. They were—

"Freshwater Plimpies!" Christina exclaimed excitedly, "I bred mine! Aren't they so adorable!"

She tapped at the glass affectionately. Cute really wasn't the word Nick would use to describe them. In fact, there was nothing remotely cute about them. They simply looked like fat miniature balloons with feet that were staring at him, sitting at the bottom of the tank.

"Wow—er—thanks, Christina," was all Nick could think of for a reply, "they're really neat…"

"I knew you would love them!" she said happily, and then she added, "well, I best be off, I have to give my new chimera cub to Sarah, oh, I can't wait to see the look on her face!"

Nick couldn't wait to see the deranged look of horror that would momentarily be on Sarah's face, either, but as he turned around to watch, Zoe grabbed him from behind. He reeled around.

"Hi!" she said joyfully, "here's your present. One of Rowena's kittens!"

She reached down into her box and pulled out one of the fluffy white furballs. It was actually very cute. It's tiny pug-like face yawned as it looked up at Nick and started to purr affectionately. It had a green lacey ribbon around its neck. Zoe then handed one to everyone that was sitting by Nick (Ian had somehow been missed).

"Ooh, they're so cute," Laura gasped, twittering her fingers underneath her kitten's chin. I'm going to name her Noelle, I think, since it's Christmas and all…"

"Nice," Nick said, "I'll name mine—" he glanced down suddenly at A History of Magic, "Bathilda, I think."

Ian snorted. Laura beamed at him, "That's great!"

When the last of the presents were opened, it was nearly midday. The sun had fully risen and was reflecting beautifully over the snow-covered grounds. In the distance, Hagrid's cabin took on the appearance of a quaint little gingerbread house, with smoke bellowing from the chimney.

Before it was time for the D.A. members to return to the castle for Christmas tea for attendance, however, Neville announced that they would be having their indoor snowball fight, within the Room of Requirement. It was met with mixed response. Several of the younger students cheered enthusiastically but a few of the older girls muttered something about homework and moved toward the door, but Neville stopped them.

Sarah Wardell, who had been one of those who cautiously inched towards the door asked wildly, "But Neville, how in the WORLD are we going to get snow in here?!"

"Laura and Nick have got it all planned out," he said triumphantly.

Sarah looked over at Laura and Nick, who were standing by the fire with Ian and gave them a frown.

"Well, let's do it, then," Neville looked expectantly at Laura and Nick.

"Er—well," Nick said, "Torrent Charm, I s'pose…but shouldn't we have them put all their Christmas gifts in the dorms? It's about to get very wet."

Obediently, the students rushed around, gathering up books, candy, and pets and running to their dormitories. Ian agreed to take Nick's things and Bathilda to his dormitories. Within moments, an eager audience was standing in front of them once more.

"Okay, then," Nick continued, "The Torrent Charm, okay, Laura? _Cheimarros_!"

Laura followed suit and within moments, people were running frantically away from the raging currents of water, which gradually filled the room. Laura then declared:

"Switching Spells, right, Nick?"

"Right," Nick agreed. He sufficiently concentrated his mind on what he desired—snow, and said firmly, "_Tranformiglio_!"

After his and Laura's combined efforts, the water instantly changed into a thin layer of powdery snow. Neville looked at it rather disappointed.

"Oh well," he said, "that's not nearly enough…I guess it takes a lot of water to make snow accumulate…but it's not like we can submerge the Room in water…"

"We don't have to," Laura said smartly, pulling out a little green bottle from her robes, "I brewed this the other night. If it works properly, with each drop, the snow should multiply in size…and also give the right texture for snowballs."

Neville looked at her in admiration, "Wow. He said softly, you think of everything, don't you?"

Laura blushed furiously, "Well, there's not much else to do around here," she said finally and then she looked at Nick and whispered, "unless you're going around snogging people all the time…" To Nick's surprise, she pointed over at Ian, who was holding hands with Jordan.

"What? You mean Ian—?"

"Uh-huh," she said matter-of-factly, keeping her voice down, "it's ALL he's been doing lately ever since he started going out with Jordan the other day."

"Well," said Nick darkly, "at least they have scheming against their friends in common…"

Laura gave him an I-know-what-you-mean look and then held out her little green bottle out, looking at it fondly and dropping three drops onto the snow. Instantly, it tripled before their eyes. Laura beamed at her green bottle.

"And one more drop ought to do it…" Another drop of the potion fell on the snow its entire mass doubled in size. Nick was now standing in three feet of wet, clumpy snow.

"Amazing," Neville declared, looking at Laura. She blushed again, and Neville declared in a loud, booming voice: "Okay! Let's have some fun! FIGHT!"

It was complete and utter pandemonium. Stray snowballs zoomed to and fro, smashing a bookcase in the corner and caused the books to fall off of it, soggy and damp. The younger students, who had bent over to make snowballs, were immediately pummeled to the ground by the older students, who had already crafted their own snowballs using magic. In the corner, Nick could see Katrina taking refuge on the other side of a snow bank with Tiffany, as her friend Rosalie had been pummeled to the ground fiercely by Ian's icy attack. Nick reeled around quickly to scoop up more snow with his wand, but Christina had sent an enormous chunk of wet snow his way, and before he could deflect it, it crashed into him and he was smashed to the ground, snow seeping into his robes, making him freeze.

Obviously fearing the violent collisions, out of the corner of his eye, Nick saw Sarah nervously piling up the armchairs and desks on top of each other, to form a sort of protective fort. She beamed at her creation and darted inside, quickly followed by Laura, who was shepherding several first year Ravenclaw girls, Katrina included, behind it. They screamed happily. Nick got slowly to his feet and headed for Sarah's fort before he saw Jordan (with Ian's assistance) levitate a gigantic snowball, the size of two of Hagrid, up into the air and sent it smashing at full speed onto Sarah's fort.

Several screams came from inside as Jordan's snowball made impact and imploded upon all those who sought refuge inside. Covered in snow from head to foot and cursing loudly, Sarah emerged from her destroyed work of art and pelted snowballs angrily at Jordan and Ian, who were seeking shelter from behind a squashy armchair.

Nick carefully beamed a snowball in Ian's direction, and it struck him head on from behind the armchair, but no one's snowballs were more destructive than Sarah Wardell's. She had launched a snow ball right above Mary's head which struck the bookcase and sent a particularly thick book falling until it landed with a satisfying thunk on Mary's skull, which made her a little dazed, and when Ian was able to finally revive her, she got up and squawked, while moving her arms around, clucking like a chicken around the Room. Everyone roared with laughter, even Sarah, though she looked faintly scared at what she had done.

"WATCH OUT!" declared Seamus quickly, as Neville, Parvati, Padma, and Lavender had launched a full out attack on the rest of them, sending snowballs whizzing around them. But this time, Nick was ready for them. He pointed his wand at them and muttered a few choice words, thus making the snowballs burst into harmless bits of ice and snow, which then fell clumsily to the ground.

After what seemed like hours, the snowball fight finally drew to a close. Christmas tea was approaching, and the Carrows would have to take attendance of all those who had stayed behind, and it might look very suspicious if they were all missing. Slightly disappointed that he would have to leave the fight early, he slowly trudged through the snow, following the other half-bloods and purebloods out of the Room of Requirement.

After they had left, Nick performed a tricky little spell to dry everyone off and leave their clothes feeling like they had been warming in front of a fire for hours. They walked in silence quite unhappily down to the Hall.

Though the Great Hall was heavily decorated for Christmas, it certainly did not seem as welcoming as the Room of Requirement had been.

Perhaps, it was the company. The four House tables were gone and instead, one large table was placed in the center of the Hall. Up at the staff table, Professor McGonagall was conversing rather gravely with Professor Slughorn. Perhaps he was telling her of his eventful Potions class the other day. Professor Flitwick was digging into his Wizard Crackers, laughing merrily. Professor Sinistra was trying to settle a fight that had broken out between Firenze and a distraught and bewildered looking Professor Trelawney, who smelled strongly of sherry. Professor Vector was talking to Professor Sprout, meanwhile Professor Binns, the ghost who taught History of Magic, was gazing mournfully at his food, as he could not eat it. The Carrows were sitting on either side of Snape, looking quite smug.

Nick glanced around at the students' table to see that most of the D.A. had arrived, and a few Slytherins had as well, Demelza included. She looked quite sad, on the contrary, but stiffened her gaze as she saw the D.A. had already assembled, and many of them were shooting angry glances at her.

Snape did not even wish them a Happy Christmas as Dumbledore used to, in fact he said nothing at all, simply staring down at his tea apprehensively. He looked very stressed, with dark circles under his eyes. The slimeball, maybe he had been punished by Voldemort for inadequately searching for the Muggle-borns. In any case, Nick was hopeful that he would be replaced soon, despite Demelza's attempts to find some good in him.

After all the students had assembled, Alecto rose with a clipboard in her arms, holding a large black quill. She began to take attendance. Typically, she started with the Slytherins.

"George, Rebecca?"

"Here."

"Higgleworth, Aaron?"

"Yup."

"Ramirez, Demelza?"

Nick heard Demelza give a dull, "here", and then he opened his new A History of Magic book and began to read the new introduction written by historian Arma Alden.

_About The Author: Miss Bathilda Bagshot, ninety-three, currently resides in peaceful retirement inside her home at Godric's Hollow. Her latest work is the collaboration with_ Daily Prophet_ reporter Rita Skeeter, on her bestselling book,_ The Life & Lies of Albus Dumbledore_. One of the many Wizarding gems who reside(d) in Godrics's Hollow, along with Albus Dumbledore himself and The Boy Who Lived (Harry Potter), Miss Bagshot has already left a lifelong mark on the Wizarding world._

So Harry had lived in Godric's Hollow. It made sense, seeing as it was one of the most Wizard-populated towns in all of Britain. Before Nick could read on, however, Alecto had already progressed to the Ravenclaws.

"Schider, Zoe?"

"Here."

"Southwick, Nicholas?"

"Here," Nick replied, he hastily put his book away as Alecto finished attendance and turned to his tea. He drank it quickly, scalding his throat, eager to return to the Room of Requirement to spend more time with Ian and Laura. Quickly, clutching A History of Magic, Nick made his way back upstairs, and reentered the Room of Requirement.

When the giant oak doors appeared for him and he rushed through them, the snow was disappearing before his eyes. Neville, apparently, had worked his magic, and the Room was already clearing it up for them. Nick walked over steadily to the first clump of armchairs he found, and to his delight, Laura was already sitting there. She was stroking her new kitten, Noelle, fondly. She looked up at Nick immediately.

"Hi," she said, "how was Christmas tea?"

"Horrible," came Nick's reply, "you can't talk freely down there, with the Carrows swooping down on you…"

Laura nodded in agreement. Nick had been expecting Ian to be sitting beside Laura, but the rest of the armchairs were empty.

"Hey—where's Ian?"

Laura simply pointed across the room, where Ian and Jordan were kissing under some of Christina's mistletoe.

"It was scary," Laura said, "right after you left Sarah's new chimera cub went crazy and spitted flames at everyone… I don't know how Christina got it, to tell you the truth…chimeras are part of Magical Creature Safety Degree number fifty-five and it says that they're untradeable and…"

As Laura restated the entire Magical Creature Safety Constitution, Nick couldn't help but wonder whether Demelza would turn up any time soon. He had invited her, after all…

"But anyway," Laura said quickly, obviously seeing that her reciting the Magical Creature Safety Constitution was losing her friend's concentration, "we needed something to contain it, so the Room gave us that thing over there—"

She pointed to a large see-through tank across the Room, in which a furious ugly brown little creature was sitting inside.

"It's burn-proof," Laura said shortly, "Sarah's going to see if Hagrid will take it. Which reminds me—are you seriously thinking about going to his 'Potter Party' or whatever it's called, 'cause Nick, I really don't think you should, it's not worth it—"

"'Course not," Nick said quickly. Truthfully, he had not decided whether he should attend it or not.

"Oh, good," Laura said, "and did you hear? Ginny sent Neville an owl this morning—she's not coming back to school after the holidays."

"Wha—why?"

"She didn't say, but it's easy enough to figure out, though," Laura said, as though Nick should have already known why.

"Er—why then?"

Laura looked very happy. She absolutely delighted in knowing things that Nick didn't.

"Well, I think that her brother, Ron's been discovered to be working with Harry, probably," she said matter-of-factly, "because Ginny's older brothers and father have left work and they're in hiding. The Death Eaters would have gone after them to get to Ron, and ultimately, Harry."

"Oh," Nick replied, "well that makes since, I s'pose…I sure hope Harry would hurry up with his mission, though. You're bound to be found out by the Carrows any day now if the traitor tells them anything else."

"But Nick," Laura gasped, "it could take years! It's probably got to do with a lot of complex magic…and, oh! I wish we could've helped them…"

She was right, it did seem strange that Harry had denied their help when they had offered it last year. Nine or ten people would definitely stand more of a chance then only three. Still, they had to trust his judgment.

"Hullo," said Ian suddenly, as he dropped into the vacant chair next to them, looking quite dazed, "Nick, how was tea?"

"Not very good," was Nick's reply, "So, you've been seeing a lot of Jordan lately, I hear…"

"Uh-huh," Ian said, still looking over at her, "Yeah, it's been great. We met and talked to each other for the first time when we were talking about Ramirez…"

Behind Ian's back, Laura smirked. Neither she, nor Nick had a reply to this. Thankfully, Ian kept talking.

"So, you've got N.E.W.T.s soon, eh, Nick?" he said, "Well, enjoy them. I'd rather be stuck up in here rather than doing the tests, so I s'pose it's all for the better."

"Ian!" Laura gasped, "but what about our careers? Our futures? We have to pass our N.E.W.T.s to—"

"Oh, come on Laura, d'you think it'll matter how many N.E.W.T.s we've got while were fighting You-Know-Who?"

"Well, you'll need to know Defense Against the Dark Arts," Laura snapped back at him.

"Well yeah, but we've only got the Dark Arts now, remember?"

Nick held up his hand to silence Laura, who was about to retort.

"I'm sure you'll be able to take your N.E.W.T.s after this mess is over," he said firmly, "but for now, I think you should focus on staying alive."

"Meaning we've got to catch the traitor sooner or later," Ian said, "which is why Jordan and I just Seamus and Dan to go Imperiuse Ramirez—"

"You WHAT!?" yelled Nick in alarm.

Ian looked at him suspiciously, "What d'you mean? We have to do something, it's just like you said, we've got to focus on staying alive, and it won't hurt her, just force her not to say anything else about us, and if she breaks through the curse though and turns us in, Seamus says he'll do the Cruciatus Curse or lock her up—"

"IAN!" Laura gasped, "but that's illegal…"

Nick rose quickly on his feet, knocking over his armchair in his haste. He turned to leave.

"But Nick! The feast…won't you stay?" Laura called after him.

"I've got to find Demelza and warn her—"

"I KNEW IT!" Ian screamed, launching himself after Nick, who was already sprinting out of the Room, "YOU'VE BEEN WORKING WITH HER, YOU—"

"YOU'VE KNOWN HER FOR SIX YEARS, IAN! SHE DIDN'T DO THIS! NOW, STOP BEING SO THICK AND GET—OFF—ME!"

In triumph, Nick shoved Ian off and quickly left the Room. Standing there, appalled and looking as though Nick might have grown three extra heads, Ian froze. He couldn't dare leave the Room.

"Coward," Nick hissed at him. He turned quickly and headed down to the entrance hall. He had a general idea of where the Slytherin common room was, but he couldn't be sure that that was where Demelza could be… He had to find her before Seamus and Dan did, and before they did something they would regret for the rest of their lives…


	12. Chapter 12 Support Harry Potter!

Chapter 12 – Support Harry Potter

**Chapter 12 – Support Harry Potter!**

Where could she be?! Nick thoughts became frantic as he rounded upon the doors to the Great Hall. Hopefully looking inside, half-expecting to see Demelza sipping her tea and laughing with the Slytherins, Nick's hope faded quickly. The Hall was empty, save for Snape, who was still staring at his tea, as though dazed, yet sipping it momentarily.

Instead, he decided to walk towards the Slytherin common room. Perhaps if he could find her along the way…his footsteps steadily became paces and then sprints and then—SMASH! He had crashed headfirst into none other than Alecto Carrow herself.

"Ugh—SOUTHWICK!" she screeched angrily as she toppled to the ground, dropping the clipboard she was holding, which clattered to the floor with a deafening clang.

"Er—sorry Professor," Nick said, reaching his hand out to help her up. Alecto, however, waved her hand at him and rudely denied his help.

"I'm fine," she snarled, "but I hardly think _running_ in the hallways is permitted—"

"Sorry," Nick said again, "but I'm—er—in kind of a hurry.."

"Ten points from Ravenclaw," she snapped, "and why, may I ask are you in such a hurry?"

He didn't have time for this—precious seconds were slipping steadily away…

"Er—I promised my parents I would send them a—um—Christmas letter, and I only just remembered…"

She obviously had bought his story, because she allowed Nick to pass her, mumbling something about "ungrateful, unruly teenagers". Frantically, Nick rushed down the corridor to find Demelza, and, as soon as Alecto was out of sight, he began to sprint once more, looking straight ahead of him the entire time, not wanting to run into any more of the teachers.

He kept running down to the dungeons, and passed his Potions class, and paused briefly to watch Professor Slughorn, who was dancing around the room with a bottle of whisky singing Celestina Warbeck at the top of his lungs. He dashed down one more flight of stairs, and heard voices coming from up ahead.

"Oh, er—Seamus? Dan? What are you—er—doing here?"

That was Demelza's voice. Nick's heart rate rose dramatically. How could he defend her openly in front of Seamus and Dan? He remembered what Ian had said earlier…they would think he was _working_ with Demelza, betraying his friends…Would he ever be welcome again in the Room of Requirement, to see Laura or Ian or _any_ of them?!

"Demelza," Nick heard Seamus say triumphantly, "Dan! Quick, get over here, I've got her!"

Demelza wasn't stupid. Nick expected that she knew something like this might've happened sooner or later. Peering around the bend, Nick could see her draw her wand defensively from beneath her robes, but Seamus was too quick.

"_Incarecerus!_" he cried. Demelza became entangled instantly in heavy chains and tight ropes. She looked around wildly, yelping for help but Seamus stepped in front of her, brandishing his wand menacingly.

It was now or never. Nick would have to intervene before—

"IMPE—" Seamus roared suddenly, but was caught by Nick's nonverbal Stunner, which he cast right after he had jumped out in front. As Seamus toppled to the floor, directly underneath a large portrait of Sazalar Slytherin, Stunned, Nick hoped he hadn't seen who had Stunned him…

Demelza looked around quickly, and then stared at relief at Nick, who stepped around the bend and hurried to her side. Using his wand to sever Seamus' ropes and chains, before he could help Demelza to her feet, someone screamed, "STAND AWAY FROM HER, TRAITOR!"

Dan had returned on the scene, looking in horror from Nick, who had frozen at Demelza's side to Seamus, who lay Stunned on the floor, unmoving. He raised his hand wildly and hit Nick with a curse in the middle of the chest. It was not a Stunner, but it was nasty. Howling in pain, he collapsed to the ground. Dan quickly Stunned Demelza, who was reaching for her wand. He walked menacingly up to Nick, brandishing his wand furiously, muttering, but before he could curse them further, his eyes went wide in confusion and fell to the ground on top of Seamus.

Sarah Wardell was standing behind him, her wand outstretched. She bent down next to Nick.

"Is she okay?" she asked worriedly, pointing at Demelza, "Laura told me you went after Demelza and I had to warn you about Seamus and Dan…"

"Thanks for the help…uhn…" Nick moaned, clutching his chest. It was quite painful where Dan's curse had struck him, "And Demelza's only Stunned…here…_Ennervate_."

He pointed his wand at Demelza's motionless body and she immediately gasped and awoke.

"Nick!" she breathed, and looked at Sarah in confusion, "Wha—"

"Go to the Slytherin common room," Nick said firmly, "they can't find you there…"

Demelza looked extremely worried, "But Seamus and Dan…I thought we were all friends…"

"Ian and Jordan have them all convinced you're the traitor," Sarah explained quickly, "Ian decided they needed to do something about it."

"Hurry," said Nick frantically, "we've got to go…Seamus is waking up again…"

Sure enough, Seamus was feebly stirring to their right.

"Right," said Demelza, "I was almost there too…this is the entrance to our common room—" She gestured up at the portrait of Sazalar Slytherin, who immediately sprung to life as Demelza made eye contact.

"Password?" he asked mournfully.

"Er—Mudblood," Demelza replied. The portrait moved aside on its hinges to reveal a small opening, "I'll be alright. Keep safe…"

She gaze them one last look and then toppled into the eerie Slytherin common room, which was lit a sickening green color, possibly because they were underneath the lake.

Sarah helped Nick to his feet. He was wincing in pain, his chest seemed to be burning.

"Where should I go?" Nick asked Sarah when they rounded the corridor, "Dan will tell everyone else about how I helped Demelza, and if I try to go to the Room of Requirement, they'll curse me…"

"Well, I guess you could just go to your common room," Sarah suggested, "you can still go to school—the others wouldn't dare curse you or Demelza in front of any of the teachers, because they'll have to report them to the Carrows."

"I suppose you're right," Nick said shortly, "but I wish they wouldn't be like this…"

"Yeah," Sarah agreed, "but some of us still believe you wouldn't…"

"Oh yeah," Nick said sarcastically, "like you and Laura only, probably."

"Er—well," Sarah suggested timidly, "I always thought—er—maybe if you or Demelza caught the _real_ traitor, they would believe you."

"Fat chance of that happening," Nick said, rolling his eyes, "when we can't even go into the Room without being cursed into oblivion…not like they'd _believe_ us if we caught the _real_ traitor."

"They might," Sarah said persistently, "if you had proof, they'd have no choice but to listen to you—"

They had reached the stone raven that guarded the Ravenclaw common room.

"Well, see you," Nick said slowly, "I'll just spend the rest of Christmas here, I think, and then I might go down to the Christmas feast later…in the Great Hall. That'll be safe. There are only teachers there."

"Okay," Sarah said sadly. She walked away quickly.

The stone raven turned to him and asked, "What regulates your daily movements, but feels no interest in your life. It directs you when to come and go, but does not care if you pay attention."

The answer was quite simple. "A clock," Nick said firmly.

The raven nodded its head and opened the doorway to the common room, saying: "Oh yes, very good. That one was ingenious, wasn't it?"

"Er—sure," Nick said sheepishly as he entered. He always felt a little dim-witted when he talked to the statues of Hogwarts, but that was understandable.

The common room was deserted. Its only inhabitant was Zoe's cat, Rowena, who was sleeping, curled up in front of the fireplace, which was cackling merrily. The house elves had probably helped it along. House elves…Nick remembered only years ago when Hermione had been obsessed with defending house elves and giving them rights…and he had helped her with it, along with Laura. Oh, if only she, Ron, and Harry had returned sooner, perhaps none of this mess would have ever happened. The D.A. was in shambles, with its leader gone… The war against Voldemort had cut them down, and even though they were evading the horrible new regime at Hogwarts, the Carrows, and ultimately Snape, had been victorious. In the confusion, they had blamed their friends for betraying them and they had torn themselves apart. Voldemort was winning, and Ian and the rest were too thick enough to know it. Whatever Dumbledore was being accused of by Rita Skeeter, and the rest of the Wizarding community, he was right about one thing—if they stood united, they could have hopes of vanquishing Voldemort, but if they were split, they could be easily defeated.

What had began as a glorious Christmas morning, had ended broken and demolished. Nick wearily trudged down to the Great Hall for dinner. He sat alone at the end of the student table. None of the D.A. had assembled, and Nick expected them to be in the Room of Requirement enjoying a grand feast which Aberforth had prepared, enjoying each other's company and laughing…

"Hi," said a girl, dropping into the seat next to him. Predictably, it was Demelza. Nick knew she might be wanting to talk to him sooner or later.

"Hi," Nick said back, moodily drinking his water, "Well, I've got a pretty good idea of what you felt like for the past few months…"

Demelza laughed uneasily.

"Yeah well, Dan'll tell the others about me and then they'll think I'm a traitor too, and sooner or later they'll think someone else is with us and then they'll pick each other apart, and the Carrows will have won without having to lift a finger," Nick said angrily, puncturing his chicken violently with his fork.

"Yes, well, I s'pose you're right," Demelza said shortly, "but on the bright side, you can befriend the Slytherins I've been talking to lately…"

Seeing Nick's appalled face, she ceased immediately.

"I don't feel like eating," he said suddenly, throwing his utensils down, "I'm tired. I should go. 'Bye."

He turned on his heel and swiftly left the Hall, leaving Demelza behind, looking hurt. He didn't care. He just had to get away from everyone…just rest.

Within moments, he was back in his dormitory bed, wishing desperately that he didn't ever leave the feast, as his stomach was rumbling hungrily. Turning around angrily and pressing his face against his pillow, Nick forced himself to go to sleep.

When he woke up the next morning, it was very late. Moodily, Nick dressed, his stomach still panging with hunger. Perhaps he would go down to the Hall for some breakfast. Seeing as it was still early in the morning, the students would not return from the Christmas holidays until later that day. Quietly, he descended the staircase and walked through the empty common room to the door. As soon as he exited the door, however, someone shoved some toast in his face.

"Here. Eat it, you didn't eat anything last night," Demelza said briskly, "we're going for a walk."

She was not alone. Behind her, Sarah Wardell stood, and behind _her_, in a straight line, stood Mary, Daniel, and Christina.

Not knowing what to say, Nick grabbed his scarf and cloak and followed them to the entrance hall and then out into the freezing, windswept snowy grounds.

As Nick started on his toast, Christina said simply, "We've decided to help you and Demelza catch the real traitor."

"Oh, you have, have you?" Nick said, "And you're sure you aren't spying to Seamus and Dan—"

"Of course not, Nick!" Mary said desperately.

"It's better than you think," Daniel explained, "there are a lot of us in the D.A. who don't agree with Seamus and Dan, that you're the traitor. And we believe Demelza too. But then again, Ian and Jordan have been able to brainwash a lot of people into thinking you are…"

"Well that's no surprise," replied Nick, remembering how, nights ago, Jordan and Ian were conversing in hushed voices to Dan and Nikki in the Room of Requirement.

"But there's a lot of people who believe you," Sarah interjected optimistically, "there's all of us, for starters, and then Sarah Doucette, her friend Erin, Neville, Laura, and Kim…and even Zoe…"

"Well," Demelza retorted, "Zoe'll believe anything if Ian's on the other side. She's been determined to hate him for the longest time…"

"Ah, well," Daniel said nervously, "she's nice enough to us…"

They stopped for a moment to look at the giant squid, who was breaking the icy surface of the lake with its long tentacles in amusement.

"Brr…" said Nick, shivering, "I don't suppose you could have picked a warmer place to talk…"

"We couldn't," Demelza explained, "not with the Carrows stalking around the school. It's easier to not be overheard when there're a lot of students here, but now…"

"Well, I'd still like to go to the Room and see everyone from time to time…" Nick said sadly, "but I guess—"

"You can," Christina said, "you'll just have to come in late at night. When Ian's asleep. He's sort of the leader now…and Jordan. It's disgusting, really. We really need Harry to come back and sort them out…"

"Here, here," agreed Demelza.

Christina laughed, "Well in any case, Nick, you can go to Hagrid's party in a couple of days. You haven't seen him all year, and Seamus or Dan aren't going. It might be a good chance to talk with—"

"Christina! Don't you know how dangerous it would be to go to that? You can't seriously think—" Sarah started, but Christina interrupted.

"Well, no one asked _you_ to go," she snapped.

"I wasn't even planning on going in the first place," Sarah glared at her.

"Ohh-kay!" Mary said loudly, "Let's just talk about the plan…"

"Right—er—what's the plan again?" Demelza asked.

"That we're going to help you find the real traitor?" supplied Daniel.

"Yes, that plan," Mary replied, "anyway, we were thinking about how we could watch certain people and where they go—"

"So you're going to spy on your friends?" Nick asked coldly.

"Er—well, I guess so, if you put it like that," Sarah said, "but one of them isn't our real friend anyway, they've been giving us away all this time."

"At least Neville's done a good job with the Room though," Christina piped up enthusiastically, "it won't listen to anyone else but him."

"So how do you plan to spy on everybody?" Nick asked.

"Well," Daniel explained, "I s'pose we'll set different people to trail certain people at a time…without letting them know, of course."

Nick highly doubted Harry would have approved something like this. They were acting as bad as Ian and Jordan, spying on their own friends. They didn't know if the traitor had gone to the Carrows for a while. Maybe he or she had finally felt guilty and stopped reporting them.

Still, it seemed like there was no easier way to quickly catch the traitor before the D.A. was torn in half, and become more vulnerable to the Carrows and Snape. Defeated, Nick walked slowly back up to the castle with his friends, covering up his face with his cloak, shivering from the bitter December cold.

As the hundreds of students returned back to Hogwarts from their Christmas holidays, the routine gradually grew back to the way it was before the holidays. The work was, as Nick suspected, getting harder and harder as they inched closer and closer to the N.E.W.T exams, which were looming ahead like a giant monster. Nick spent nearly every waking moment of his life studying. He had still been visiting Laura in the Room of Requirement, though he was forced to do it late at night, when everyone else was sleeping. This was proving to be extraordinarily hard, as Ian and Jordan sometimes stayed up until the early hours of the morning, kissing passionately in the squashy armchairs that were set up in front of the fireplace.

Dan had certainly been right in telling him that the D.A. was split. There were many who had believed Ian before, about Demelza being the traitor now, but were seriously convinced that Nick could not possibly be working against them. Ian and Jordan, however, had unlimited time on their hands to persuade many others with their theories and with his intense studying schedule, Nick could hardly lift a finger to defend himself.

"I just feel so horrible," a weepy Mary told them after lunch, "I've been trailing Hope and Irene all day, and they're my friends…and they haven't done anything wrong at all!"

Nick shot her and the others an I-told-you-so look.

"Nick," Demelza said, "we knew you wouldn't like it, but it has to be—"

"I know, I know," Nick replied hastily, "I wasn't complaining…"

"Well, there aren't that many more people," Sarah said brightly, checking off Hope's and Irene's names on a piece of parchment that she had summoned out of her bag, "We'll find out who it is soon, unless…"

They all looked at one another uneasily. Nick knew that they were all thinking the same thing—what if one of _them_ was the traitor? It was a horrible prospect, but what if…what if…what if the real traitor had developed this idea and would falsely accuse someone who they were spying on to protect themselves?

As the workload intensified, Hagrid's party snuck up on Nick quickly. It wasn't until it was a few hours away that Christina had reminded him. Thinking it would be a nice break in the constant studying, Nick agreed to go. He would only stay for an hour, at the least…and Christina had said Seamus or Dan wouldn't go…

He trudged down through the snow and the icy January weather to Hagrid's tiny cabin, which sat at the foot of the Forbidden Forest. It was quite late, at one o'clock in the morning. Hogwarts was not illuminated at all. On the contrary, Nick could not see any light at all emulating from inside. Hopefully the Carrows were fast asleep in their beds…completely unknowing that several people were openly expressing their loyally to the number one most wanted man in the country: Harry Potter.

Nick knocked hardly on the cracking, wooden door. He saw a giant hazel colored eye peer through one of the cracks, and then, upon noticing that it was indeed Nick standing alone, shivering on the front doorstep, Hagrid opened the door.

Immediately, warmth and smells overtook Nick as they flowed out from the opened door. Hagrid was standing there, wearing a large white apron with red polka-dots embroidered all over its front. His beard and hair were tangled and matted, and he was holding a steaming teapot from around the middle with his bare hands.

"Well, hullo!" he said cheerfully, "come on in, I s'pose… Yeh ain't the first one here, anyways…it's good ter see yeh again, Nick…how come y'aint been over to see me for the longest o' times?"

"Er—well," Nick said timidly. He was always intimidated by Hagrid's sheer size, "It's N.E.W.T year, right? I've been real busy studying…"

"Oh, hi, Nick!" cried Demelza from across the room. She walked over and stood next to Hagrid. She looked extremely short standing next to him. "I thought you wouldn't come," she explained, "it's really unlike you to be this rebellious."

"Yeah, well," he said, beaming at them, "there isn't any place I can talk to you and the others since Ian and Jordan've taken over the Room…"

"Yeah," Demelza agreed sadly, "but there are a lot of people here already…look."

Nick obeyed her and looked over her shoulder to see many of his friends enjoying themselves. Christina and Parvati were oohing and ahhing over two pure white horse-looking creatures with gold tails and mane, and a small horn on their foreheads.

Hagrid, seeing that Nick was looking at the creatures, said brightly, "Unicorn foals. Just born a few days ago."

Nick smiled in relief. It was a good thing Hagrid didn't bring any other magical creatures to introduce them too, as he was known to think dragons were cute and had even named a vicious man-eating three-headed dog Fluffy.

"They're so cute!" Christina squealed, patting one of the unicorn's ears affectionately.

Next to them, Daniel and Mary were having a rather loud argument about cars and Jade Morse was showing Zoe a new charm she had learned. Nick smirked as he saw Zoe slowly backing away in fear. Next to them, Sarah Doucette was talking to her friend Erin.

"Well—er—not a very good turnout, really," Demelza said sadly, "I s'pose they thought it was too dangerous."

"Yeah, they probably did, and with all the homework we've been having, even _I _almost didn't come," Nick said woefully, "and come tomorrow I'll probably regret even coming…"

"Oh, lighten up," Demelza joked, thumping him on the shoulder, "if anyone's going to get seven 'Outstanding' N.E.W.T.s, you are, and besides…the food's good."

She motioned to a long Hagrid's table, which was full of sweets, cakes, custards, fudge, butterbeer, and of course some of Hagrid's homemade rock cakes.

"It's not Hagrid's cooking," Demelza said quickly, upon seeing Nick's looks of apprehension, "well—er—except the rock cakes…he got a lot of it from Honeydukes."

"Oh," Nick said, "that's a relief. The last time I ate some of Hagrid's treacle tart, I felt sick for days…"

Demelza handed him a fat piece of white cake, with a large amount of fluffy icing on top. He gratefully accepted it, and poured a cup of tea. Hagrid had also (badly) bewitched a large piece of parchment to say 'Support Harry Potter! The Boy Who Lived!' and blink in flashing colors. Hagrid, of course, was out of practice, after having been expelled in his third year at Hogwarts. He did keep the fragments of his old wand inside a very large red umbrella, though, and although he was not allowed to use it, he did on rare occasions.

He was just sinking his teeth inside his cake when Fang, Hagrid's huge bloodhound whined against the door, hitting it with his enormous paws.

"We'll let him out," Demelza said quickly, seeing as Hagrid was deeply interested in Daniel's discussion about cars.

Nick opened the door for Fang, and followed him out into the chilly night, looking at the beautiful stars up ahead, along with Demelza, who was gasping as a beautifully enflamed shooting star raced across the black sky. It was silent. Snow was gently drifting to the ground. The only sound to be heard was Fang eagerly digging up a bone from underneath the snow. Except…Nick's heartbeat raced—_voices_?! He was right. Two hushed voices carried across the icy grounds, and they were heading straight for Hagrid's cabin.


	13. Chapter 13 The Eccentric Examiners

Chapter 13 – Running & Rumors _Hello! Hope you are enjoying the story so far, as it is gradually coming to a close…but you've got a LOT more to look forward to as the N.E.W.T. testing gets out of the way and Nick has a little more to focus on…like defeating Voldemort and driving the Carrows out of the school—yeah, that's worth waiting for, I'd say. Well, I'd like to remind you that this is simply fanfiction, and I don't own the Harry Potter books, J.K.Rowling does. In this chapter, I actually quote some things directly from _The Deathly Hallows_, just thought I'd let you know. I've been trying to keep up with the actual timeline of events from the seventh book, but they're kind of sketchy details, but we do know that Harry & company were captured by Greyback and the other Snatchers during the Easter holidays because Narcissa tells them that Draco was staying home for them. That's where we are in this story now…you'll see…anyways, I'll stop interrupting you now…you probably want to find out how the disastrous 'Support Harry Potter!' party ends…_

**Chapter 13 – The Eccentric Examiners**

"Whose voices—" Demelza started, but Nick clasped a hand to her mouth and walked behind a snow bank to get closer without being seen.

"—You'd better have a good reason for waking me up, Amycus," snapped the disgruntled voice of Alecto Carrow. Demelza looked mortified. Her skin felt as cold as the January night.

"Oh, it is, Alecto, it _is_," replied her brother's voice menacingly, "our spy came to me again on Christmas morning! It's that oaf, Hagrid, he's having a party to support Potter! All of the rebellious blood-traitors will be there, we'll force them to tell us where the Mudbloods are hiding—"

Nick didn't wait to hear anymore. He forcefully pulled Demelza by the hand and led her back to Hagrid's cabin. They had to warn the others before the Carrows got to them. It had been a horrible idea to come to the party in the first place, Nick thought. The traitor had not given up because of guilt…why hadn't they thought that he or she might have told the Carrows about the party…Hagrid's cabin had no defensive magic after all…

When he reached Hagrid's door he slammed it open and as it banged noisily against the wall, everyone looked in alarm. Nick was too terrified to speak.

"The C-c-carrows!" he croaked finally, "they're coming!"

Hagrid looked like he had been ready for something like this. He pushed the table aside and grabbed his giant crossbow from underneath it.

"I'll hold 'em off," he growled angrily, "everybody out through the back door…go ter the Fores' and hide 'till I fight 'em, then you migh' be able ter sneak by them and back ter the castle…and why don't yeh return the unicorns to the Fores' too, Christina…they'll be able ter find their parents…"

Not waiting to be told twice, Christina grabbed the baby unicorns in her arms defensively and kicked the back door open, whispering hoarsely, "Come on!"

Everyone followed suit and soon, all ten of them were hurrying off into the Forbidden Forest, shivering along the way. Once they were concealed in the trees, and Demelza had carefully obliterated their footprints that they left in the snow with her wand, Jade spoke in a hushed, complaining voice.

"I _knew_ I shouldn't have came…and I _just_ got out of the Hospital Wing too…"

Nick fuzzily remembered Jade exploding her cauldron and Professor Slughorn emerging from the smoke carrying her limp body. He couldn't focus, however. Hagrid couldn't hold them off for long…he didn't have a wand…only a crossbow, and the Carrows were highly trained Death Eaters…and they wouldn't hesitate to kill…

Christina set the baby unicorns down, and they ran off into the forest.

"Er—d'you think they'll actually find their parents?" Parvati asked, scared, "there are a lot of other things in the forest that might find them first—"

"No," Christina interrupted firmly, "unicorns are born with an incredible sense of direction, and they've got each other…and well—er—yeah, there are a lot of nightmares in this Forest anyway, but…"

She trailed off, looking anxiously over her shoulder as though something might attack her. Suddenly they heard Hagrid scream at the top of his lungs, "GRAWPY! GRAWPY, HELP HAGGER!"

"What's 'Grawpy'," asked a horrified Mary.

Before Nick or Demelza could explain, having hearing the about Hagrid's half-brother in their fifth year, however, an enormous dark shape swept past them, a few yards away, knocking down several tall trees.

"Er—what was that!?" Parvati asked, panicked, "I didn't get a very good look at it…"

"Ooh, that was a _giant_!" Christina said, looking extremely interested, "at least, it looked like a giant, but I didn't know Hagrid had one of those…"

Wishing not to get into details, Nick said quickly, "I think that was the distraction Hagrid mentioned, c'mon, let's go back to the castle! Keep your heads down, maybe they won't see us with all the snow banks."

The others followed, eager to get away from the Forest. They crept silently passed Hagrid's cabin. The snow had intensified, to Nick's immense relief, and therefore, it would be extremely hard for the Carrows to see them sneaking back up to school. In the distance, they could see the faint outlines of Alecto, Amycus, and Hagrid, and even the rather large outline of Grawp, Hagrid's giant half-brother who had come to his aid.

"EVERYTHING'S BOUNCING OFF OF IT!" screamed Alecto angrily. She had obviously sent several spells at Grawp, which had absolutely no effect.

"HE'S A GIANT, YOU IDIOT!" her brother screamed back, "AIM FOR ITS EYES!"

"YOU FILTHY HALF BREED!" Alecto screeched horribly at Hagrid, "YOU FILTHY—"

She was cut off by Grawp, however, who had flailed her into a snow bank with his giant fists. Amycus screamed in fury.

"YOU ARE UNDER ARREST, HALF-BREED! I SHALL AIM TO KILL IF YOU DO NOT COME QUIET—"

He was silenced too. Nick couldn't see whether Grawp had knocked him aside like he did with his sister, the wind and snow was too thick. They had approached the giant entrance hall doors to Hogwarts, and he and Daniel pushed them open quickly, against the wind and snow, and the others trembled inside. Without saying anything, they each went to their common rooms, and, surprisingly they did not meet any trouble in the halls. They were completely dark and deserted. As Nick climbed into his bed moments later, he couldn't help but thinking that Sarah had indeed been right in warning him against going to Hagrid's party.

Thankfully, the extremely fast-paced classes kept Nick busy, and for the next few months that passed, it seemed like they were only days. Rumors were flying from student to student like highly contagious diseases, and no one could figure out how Hagrid had supposedly defeated two armed Death Eaters when he was completely wandless. Of course, none of the D.A. members who actually saw Grawp rush to Hagrid's aid, were telling anything. It was much more amusing to let people figure it out for themselves. Apparently, however, it _was_ true that Snape had gone out to the grounds the next morning, to find his two allies unconscious, and being slowly buried by drifting snow. To his great fury, the Carrows had reported that Hagrid had indeed escaped, but his post as Care of Magical Creatures teacher would need to be replaced, as he was under arrest and on the run.

The most sickening thing was that it was now clear to Nick and Demelza that the traitor had warned the Carrows about Hagrid's party, much to their disgust. They concluded that the traitor was most likely not one of those who attended Hagrid's party, but they couldn't be sure. Nick had explained what he and Demelza had overheard to the others countless times, but he was now doing it again over dinner one night.

"I've told you a million times," Nick snapped irritably, "all we heard is that the traitor went to Amycus on Christmas morning to tell them about Hagrid's party. That's all!"

Mary, however, looked unconvinced. "But Nick, the entire D.A. was in the Room of Requirement on Christmas morning! No one could have left, we would've seen them!"

Nick had already thought of this before, and he did not like its result. It only placed more suspicion upon Demelza, as she did not join them for their festivities on Christmas morning.

"Well, we've got to think," Demelza explained, "can you be sure that every one was there on Christmas?"

"Well, _you _weren't," Sarah said, looking suspicious.

"We've already gone over this hundreds of time—" Nick started, but Sarah said hastily, "Never mind!"

"I really think everyone was there," Daniel said, counting off his fingers, "Except Demelza of course."

"Hmm," said Christina thoughtfully, "d'you think they could've gone earlier, perhaps?"

"But we were there extremely early already," Nick said impatiently, "and almost all of us came down in twos or more, remember, we had to decorate the Room before anyone else woke up…"

Things had not been going well with trying to discover who the real traitor was. So far, they had gone through every single name on Sarah's clipboard, to no result. They had to push their investigations aside however, now that they were only a month away from N.E.W.T.s. as their teachers delighted in reminding them.

Many of the seventh year students had already collapsed under pressure, the first being Jade Morse who dissolved into hysterics during Charms, much to the annoyance of Professor Flitwick, who calmed her down and (half-heartedly) assured her that he had the upmost confidence in her abilities.

If possible, N.E.W.T.s were pressing more stress onto them than their O.W.L.s did, in fifth year, as their results would determine their success in later life. To cap it all off, Nick's prefect duties were intensifying tenfold. He now was responsible to confiscate the many "brain stimulating" substances that were floating around Ravenclaw Tower. Older students were taking advantage of the fifth years, who were about to take their O.W.L.s. Angrily, Nick thought this was cutting majorly into his study time, and he was tired of finding more and more ways to safely dispose of chimera teeth, dragon dung, plimpy feet, doxy venom, and all the other hideous (and dangerous) substances that people were passing off (for outrageously high prices) as their sole reason for passing their O.W.L.s the previous years.

Laura, however, had proven to be a great academic help. Since she did not have her own schoolwork to busy herself with, she stayed up for long hours in the night with Nick in the Room of Requirement, going over star charts, formula sheets, and textbooks. On one particularly chilly night in April, just before the Easter holidays, he was intensely reviewing _Advanced Transfiguration_. He had just (to Laura's cheers) Conjured up a large wooden coffee table and then Transfigured it into a pincushion before Vanishing it.

"You're doing really well," she said sleepily, yawning, "just one last look over _The Standard Book of Spells_, then, before we turn in…"

As Nick pulled out the large spellbook from his bag, he heard whispers coming from the dormitory's open door.

"—I mean, really, isn't it funny how whenever we hear what the traitor tells the Carrows, it's always Nick and Demelza telling us?"

"Uh-huh, and also, they're always the first to warn us if the Carrows are on their way, too."

It was the unmistakable mutinous voices of Ian and Jordan. Nick sincerely wished not to be discovered by them in the middle of the night in the Room of Requirement, if they thought him to be working against them. It was then that he decided to stay, upon hearing Ian's old radio switch on.

"Potterwatch?" he heard Jordan whisper.

"Yeah," Ian said proudly, "I'm really good at figuring out the passowords…although—er—I can't seem to find out tonight's…'

"Hmmm," Jordan pondered, "why don't we try a bunch of them—how about 'Albus'?"

As soon as she said their old headmaster's name, the radio switched instantly from static to cool voices, informing them that they were indeed listening to Potterwatch. Thankfully, Ian turned the radio's volume up a little, so Nick and Laura could inch towards the door and listen. Nick hoped that Harry had made some progress…

"…we've finally found another secure location to broadcast from," Lee Jordan's voice was saying, "but before we hear from our two regular contributors, Royal and Romulus, let's take a moment to report one some recent deaths that the _Prophet_ has conveniently left out. We deeply regret to inform our listeners of the murders of Ted Tonks and Dirk Cresswell…"

Tonks? _Tonks_?! Did Lee possibly mean Tonks' father…?

"A goblin by the name of Gornuk was also killed. It is also believed that a Muggle-born by the name of Dean Thomas and another goblin, named Griphook were travelling with Tonks, Cresswell, and Gornuk, and may have escaped. Of Dean is listening—"

"Nick!" Laura said suddenly, "Gornuk! He was the goblin who led us to our vaults when we met each other at Gringotts, remember?"

"Yeah," Nick said, remembering suddenly, "Yeah, he was…and Dean too…I hope he's okay…"

"Me too," Laura said anxiously, "but they would've reported his death if he had been killed, right?"

"I think so," Nick said unsurely. He motioned Laura to be quiet, however, because Lee had just ceased informing them of a Muggle killing in Gaddley, and was now moving on from the dreary topic.

"Finally, we regret to inform you that the remains of Bathilda Bagshot have been discovered in Godric's Hollow. The evidence is that she had died several months ago. The Order of the Phoenix informs us that her body showed unmistakable signs of injuries inflicted by Dark Magic."

Nick's heartbeat raced. Bathilda Bagshot, the _historian_? He looked mournfully at his new copy of _A History of Magic_, which lay open on top of the table he was working on with Laura. But, what on earth would the Death Eaters want with a tiny old woman living alone…?

He stopped his thoughts rapidly, as Lee invited them into a moment of silence for the memories of Ted Tonks, Dirk Cresswell, Gornuk, Bathilda, and the dead Muggle family. He and Laura looked sadly at each other and said nothing, even when Lee's voice returned, and he introduced Kingsley, to do his report on Muggle attacks. Nick's mind wandered throughout the report. He was much more concerned about the deaths that had just been reported. He wanted to listen to more of it, but he was too afraid that something horrible would be reported soon…Suddenly, however, the radio caught his attention when Lee had moved on to the 'Pals of Potter' feature.

Nick's ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Remus Lupin, was now speaking under the codename, Romulus. Lee had just asked him if he thought whether Harry was still alive or not.

"I do believe he is indeed, alive," Lupin said firmly, "There is no doubt in my mind that if he were to be captured, his death would be widely proclaimed as the 'Boy Who Lived' is the symbol for everything we are fighting for: the triumph of good, the power of innocence, the need to keep resisting."

Nick thought he heard Jordan cough, "Ha, I'm just trying to stay _alive_…"

"What would you say if Harry Potter were listening right now, Romulus?" asked Lee's voice.

"I'd tell him that we were all with him in spirit," Lupin replied, "and to follow his instincts, which are nearly always right…"

"Thank you, Romulus, and now we will report on those who have suffered for their open allegiance to Harry Potter—including Xenophilius Lovegood, the editor of the Quibbler, who was taken to Azkaban. It is also rumored that Rubeus Hagrid, the well-known gamekeeper at Hogwarts School, has narrowly escaped arrest after apparently holding a 'Support Harry Potter' party in his house. Hagrid was not taken into custody, and he is, we believe, on the run."

Nick laughed uneasily. He felt extremely guilty for attending the party in the first place, and now Hagrid was on the run and had lost his job and house…

"C'mon," Laura said quickly, pulling Nick by the arm, who was listening to Lee introduce Fred and George, who were fighting over their codenames again.

"Wha—"

"We've got to go! I thought I saw Ian look our way, and it's really late…"

Nick agreed, however reluctantly. He did not wish to miss the end of Potterwatch, but was convinced that he certainly did not want to make a scene if Ian discovered him. Quietly, he wished Laura goodnight, grabbed his books, quills, and ink from the table and hurried off the Ravenclaw Tower, narrowly evading Filch, who was stomping around the school muttering about some recent damage Peeves had done to the suits of armor.

It was not until a week had gone by, that Nick had his first bout of pre-exam panicking. It happened during Charms, when Professor Flitwick had the entire class reviewing the various charms that they had learned so far this year. Nick was about to cast a simple Summoning Charm, when the reality that the tests that would determine his career for the rest of his life were only a week away. Instead of forcing his chosen pillow to zoom lazily into his hand, his anxious thoughts had produced an immense explosion, which temporarily halted class as Nick cooled down while everyone (who weren't severely burned) laughed.

During dinner the same day, Christina dragged him over to catch a glance of the N.E.W.T examiners. There were three of them in all, and they were standing in a circle around Snape, who was absentmindedly hoping they had a comfortable journey.

"Well," an ancient bespectacled wizard wheezed with frizzy gray hair and rather large wrinkled, "The journey went alright…made it thousands of times before, except we did run into some trouble in—did you _hear_ about the Quidditch match last night? England won in three minutes, why I haven't seen a game like that since—"

And he trailed off, obviously lost in his memories. One of his companions spoke up, completely ignoring the latter wizard, and it became obvious that random mutterings from the wheezy ancient old wizard were completely normal. Apparently Snape was just finding that to be true as well, because his puzzled glance lifted.

"We're glad to come," said a witch with horrible fake red hair and a most unconvincing smile, as if she hated nothing more than coming to Hogwarts, "Can't wait to start the examinations!"

"Right you are, Cheryl," replied the third examiner loudly, a witch with shoulder-length black hair.

"I wanted to inform you where your sleeping quarters will be. Professor Dubois—" Snape motioned to the wheezy ancient old wizard who was still muttering nonsense about past Quidditch scores, "—you will be staying in Professor Flitwick's office, I trust you know where—"

"Of course I know where," Professor Dubois said suddenly, making Snape jump, as he thought he was lost in his own world, "I dueled against the young chap back when we were school age…"

"Right," Snape sneered, "and Professor Thomas, you will be staying in Professor McGonagall's office…and Professor Swanton, you will be staying with Professor Sinistra."

"WHAT? WHAT DID HE SAY?!" the black-haired witch said loudly, "Cheryl, what did he say?! I couldn't hear—"

"He said you're going to be staying with Professor Sinistra!" said the red haired witch, annoyed.

"WHAT!?"

"He SAID you're GOING TO BE STAYING—"

"WHAT?!"

"Oh, hold on," Professor Swanton said irritably, she then pulled out her wand and tapped it to her ears. She then looked relieved, "Ah, yes, that's better," she turned to Snape, who looked thoroughly confused and explained, "It's only the barnacles growing in my ears, no need to be alarmed."

Snape, on the contrary, along with Nick, looked completely shocked that the Ministry of Magic could possibly employ these three eccentric old sorcerers to be their N.E.W.T. examiners. Christina pushed Nick aside and they went back to the Hall to finish dinner.

"Wow," Christina said, thunderstruck, "if _they_ are going to be the examiners, I might actually get seven O's…" Her eyes went wide as she entered into her daydreams.

"Hmmm," Nick said, thinking, "I bet they must be really good if the Ministry would let them be examiners for so long."

Like usual, Nick sat at the Gryffindor table with the others, and they eagerly explained to the others about their slightly eccentric N.E.W.T examiners.

"Ooh, it'll be a pushover!" Mary said excitedly, "I might even get enough N.E.W.T.s to become an _Auror_!"

"I wouldn't be too sure," said Sarah wisely, "everyone knew Dumbledore was eccentric too, and he was the most skilled wizard ever, probably."

"Don't be such a killjoy," Demelza snapped, "personally, I'm tired of studying all day and night…"

Sarah looked crestfallen.

"Well," Nick said, "I just hope I get enough N.E.W.T.s to become a healer…"

"Nick, honestly, I don't really think _you_ should be worrying about how many N.E.W.T.s you're going to get," Mary said, "and when you've got your twelve 'Outstanding' test scores back—"

"OH! Don't SAY that!" Nick snapped, "what if I mess up like I did in Charms the other day, huh? I doubt that old Professor Dubois bloke will survive another explosion if he's examining me—"

"Well, hopefully Professor Swanton's barnacles start growing again so she can't hear my answers," Sarah said doubtfully.

"Umm…Sarah?" Mary replied rather rudely, "I really don't think someone needs barnacles in their ears to not be able to hear _you_."

It was one of many outbursts that had been happening lately among them, as the stress of the looming N.E.W.T.s were pressuring them. As Sarah looked a little hurt, Daniel said quickly, puffing out his chest, "So how many hours of studying are you guys putting in?"

"Five hours a day, at least," Mary informed her brother, looking proud, "I counted yesterday…"

Sarah looked frantic, "Should I be keeping track!?"

No one answered her, except Demelza, who merely said, "I just hope I'm not in the same examination hall as Jade Morse. She nearly killed me during O.W.L.s…"

There was a general murmur of agreement to her words. Christina then pulled out a small black book. She opened it and Nick gasped. Written on its pages were seemingly millions of small words written in blotchy black ink.

"It's everything I have to know for N.E.W.T.s," she said proudly, "it fills up the whole book, see?"

As she flipped through its pages, Nick began to grow dizzy from the scrawled writing and took out _Advanced Transfiguration_ and began to read it for the eleventh time.

None of them touched their dinner at all. In fact, Nick, Demelza, Sarah, Christina, Mary, and Daniel stacked books and parchments full of notes on top of their empty plates. Nick planned to study with Laura again tonight, but he had to wait until it was very late, as Ian stayed up practically the whole night with Jordan.

As dinner ended and the students filed out of the Hall and up to their common rooms, Nick lazily flicked his wand and his books, quills, ink, and parchment neatly placed themselves inside his bag. He walked up to Ravenclaw Tower alone, too distracted by studying to know that his stomach was crying out to him in hunger.

The common room was full of fifth years, who were looking very anxious, reading their textbooks so quickly, it appeared as though their eyes were blurred. Nick plopped into an armchair that sat directly next to the fire, and watched as Rowena was apparently teaching Bathilda how to pounce and claw prey, by using some timid looking first years, who were staring at a model of a Quidditch field, blissfully unaware that they were about to be attacked.

Nick chuckled a little, and then returned to _Advanced Transfiguration_, hoping intensely that the N.E.W.T examiners were as clueless as they looked.


	14. Chapter 14 NEWTs

**Chapter 14 - N.E.W.T.s**

The day that Nick had dreaded the entire year…or rather the day he had dreaded for his entire time at Hogwarts, had finally arrived. Nick woke up that morning, sprawled out on his bed, his hair untidy and stringy, and dark circles underneath his eyes. Books were cluttered all around his slumbering body and ink was splattered messily on his nose. A wide piece of parchment, full of complicated Arithmacy formulas was lying directly across his face, and it had floated above him every time he snored throughout the night. Today, was the first day of N.E.W.T. testing.

His roommates had already left to go down to breakfast, and Nick rose a little too jerkily, and immediately felt quite sore. Groggily, Nick found his wand and nonverbally Summoned his books to zoom into his bag. Unfortunately, when he attempted to Summon his ink bottle, he had forgotten that it was not sealed, and it splattered all over his books. Feeling very annoyed, Nick simply forced all of his materials into his bag, slung it over his shoulder (and fell back in pain as its weight clashed on his shoulder) and walked down to the Great Hall, after venting some of his anger and anxiety on some shy first years who were blocking the entrance to the common room.

Nick went straight to the Gryffindor table, where everyone was already assembled, studying intensely. He chose a seat next to Sarah Doucette and her friend Erin, who were quizzing each other on their History of Magic vocabulary. Across from him, Mary was staring at _Everything You Need to Know to Pass Your N.E.W.T. Exams_ so intensely that she had emptied the entire bottle of jam onto her toast.

Next to her, her brother was looking quite confused while he reviewed his Arithmacy formulas. Meanwhile, Sarah Wardell was reciting Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration at top speed under her breath, and Christina was patting her _Monster Book of Monsters_ affectionately around its spine so she could read it. Parvati and Lavender were both looking sadly at their Divination dream-diaries, while looking nervously at Jade Morse who was re-entering hysterics.

"Good morning," Nick said irritably, but no one responded, except for Christina, who opened her mouth as if to say something, but then, apparently thinking better of it, returned to _The Monster Book of Monsters_.

"Well don't everyone speak up at once," Nick snapped, opening _Extremely Advanced Charmwork_ and re-reading the section on the Drought Charm. First thing in the morning, was his Charms theory exam, which was followed by his Charms practical exam. For what seemed like the fifteenth time, he pulled out his worn schedule that Professor Flitwick had handed out weeks ago. He proffered it and read it once more.

_Nicholas Southwick, Ravenclaw Seventh Year, N.E.W.T. testing schedule:_

_MONDAY:_

_Theory of Charms – 8:00 Great Hall_

_Charms Practical – 10:00 Great Hall_

_Lunch & Free Time – 12:00 _

_Theory of Transfiguration – 2:00 Transfiguration Classroom_

_Transfiguration Practical – 4:00 Great Hall_

_TUESDAY: _

_Theory of Potions – 8:00 – Dungeons_

_Potions Practical – 10:00 – Dungeons_

_Lunch & Free Time – 12:00_

_Arithmacy Examination – 2:00 – Arithmacy Classroom_

_Muggle Studies Examination – 4:00 – Muggle Studies Classroom_

_WEDNESDAY_

_Theory of Dark Arts – 8:00 – Great Hall_

_Dark Arts Practical – 10:00 – Great Hall_

_Lunch & Free Time – 12:00_

_Herbology Examination – 2:00 – Greenhouse Eleven_

_THURSDAY_

_Theory of Astronomy – 8:00 – Great Hall_

_History of Magic – 10:00 – Great Hall_

_Lunch & Free Time – 12:00_

_Astronomy Practical – 12:00 (Midnight) – Top of Astronomy Tower _

_Please be punctual for all examinations, as they will be closed after the examinations have begun. There will be no leaving the examination halls once the examinations have begun. Bring all necessary equipment (wand, cauldron, ink, spare parchment, star charts) Potion ingredients will be provided. As always, Anti-Cheating Spells will be cast upon the tests themselves, and each student will be given their own quill to work with, so they cannot be tempered with beforehand. Wishing you the best of luck, as always, _

_Very truly yours,_

_Professor Fillius Flitwick Head of Ravenclaw House, Charms master_

Each time Nick read his very tight examination schedule, he felt a pang of guilt. He needed top marks in Herbology, Transfiguration, Arithmacy, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts to fulfill his ambition to become a healer. Yet, he could not possibly bring himself to perform horrible magic during Amycus' Dark Arts exam. Yet still…it would mean the end of his long-standing ambition. Muggle Studies, of course, he could completely blow off. It did not mean anything in the world to him whether he passed or not. He had not even taken the class long enough for the N.E.W.T. to be eligible to count for or against him. History of Magic and Astronomy, although not needed, would help a great deal. He needed good marks all around to be accepted to

St. Bettina's University for Healing, where he would need to become certified for healing before St. Mungo's would employ him.

Again, he thought horribly as the horrendously evil magic he would have to perform to pass Amycus' test. Would he sacrifice his preferred career for it? He wasn't altogether sure. One thing he was sure of, however, was that Sarah needed to eat something. She was shaking, her eyes glassy and disconnected. She looked like she hadn't done anything but study intensely for days.

"Er—Sarah, here, take something to eat, you look starved," Nick said softly, spreading some jam on some toast, "you need something to eat if you want to do well—"

Sarah looked up suddenly, as if she was barely registering that someone was talking to her.

"Gamp's-law-of-elemental-Transfiguration-states-number-one-that-food-is-one-of-the-only-things-that-can-not-be-Conjured—" she recited loudly at top speed, but Mary, who was laughing, shoved toast into Sarah's mouth, cutting off the other four-hundred and five fundamental laws of Gamp's Elemental Transfiguration, at a great relief to Nick, who had already read them over and over again, trying to engrave them in his memory, to no such avail.

He forced some eggs down, pleasing his stomach, which seemed to shiver with its thanks. He was holding _Extremely Advanced Charmwork_ in his hands, and his exam schedule was laying neatly on top of it. Yet even though he was reading, the information was quickly slipping out of his mind.

When the bell to schedule the start of class (or in the seventh years' case, the first N.E.W.T. exam), Nick leapt up in his seat, showering not tea all over Christina, who yelped in pain, while cleaning the stains off of her robes with her wand. Nick had not been the only one to have a startling nervous reaction to the bell, however, as Sarah Doucette dropped what had to be close to ten thousand flash cards, Mary had leapt up to her feet, and Daniel had coughed loudly.

Nick rose to his feet steadily, apologizing hastily to Christina, who was shooting him dirty glances, laboring over a stubborn stain that wouldn't remove itself from her robes. Seeing as his first exam was in the Great Hall itself, Nick was a little unsure as to what to do. He had remembered that his O.W.L.s for Charms had taken place in the Great Hall was well, and its House tables had been removed and replace with hundreds of small desks and chairs. Yet perhaps this year it would different, as he saw Professor Flitwick rise to his feet from the staff table.

As if the Great Hall had morphed into some gigantic Room of Requirement, as Nick was thinking, Professor Flitwick gave a careless flick of his wand and the House tables vanished immediately and they were replaced by the usual hundreds of small desks and chairs that were used during examinations.

"You may take a seat," Professor Flitwick squeaked kindly to Nick and his classmates, who were looking apprehensively at the desks, "The examination won't start until everyone has gathered."

Anxiously, Nick sat down at the closet desk, looked over_ Extremely Advanced Charmwork_ once more, and slid it, along with his quill into his bag, careful to seal it shut, and place it by his feet.

"Oh, yes," Professor Flitwick explained, as Nick sat down, "and you'll be needing—"

He quickly brandished his wand through the air, and Nick gasped as a medium sized black quill (complete with full bottle of ink) appeared on his desk. Judging by the gasps of surprise from Demelza and Mary, on either side, Nick figured that quills and ink had appeared on all the desks as well.

Each minute felt like an hour, as Nick nervously tapped on his desk with his quill. To his relief, students started pouring into the Hall, choosing their seats. Once they all had gathered, Professor Flitwick beamed at them, while tapping his wand a third time, and reading from a large piece of parchment that had appeared in front of him, suspended in thin air.

"Ah yes, the 'N.E.W.T.'," he read aloud, "The Advanced Wizarding Level—more commonly known as Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests—" he chuckled in spite of himself, and then, looking around in the anxious looks of horror and the students' faces, added quickly, "Not that they are too hard as long as you're well prepared…and ah, yes. I do believe it is time to begin."

He flicked his wand once more, and a large gold hourglass appeared in front of them, filled with silver sand.

"Of course, cheating will be dealt with most severely," he explained, "so I'd best advise you to not do so. The results would probably be better if you failed your N.E.W.T. exam, rather than cheat. I will now pass out the test. Do not start until I inform you to do so."

As he flicked his wand, one final last time, hundreds of (Nick was repulsed to see) extremely thick rolls of parchment flew into the appropriate desks, facedown. Nervously, Nick peered at the thick roll of parchment, which was lying innocently on his desk.

"You may begin," said Professor Flitwick simply.

At his command, the students flipped their parchments over swiftly. Nick glanced around out of the corner of his eye to see Demelza, who had gone as white as when Seamus was about to curse her, and Sarah, who had already started scribbling, ink splattered on her nose. Nick looked hastily down at his own paper and read the first couple of questions.

_1. a) Give the incantation for the common Drought Charm and b) describe the proper wand movement._

_2. a)Give a brief history of the Flame-Freezing Charm b) its incantation and c) the Latin meanings for the incantation through the ages._

Thinking fondly of Laura and Ian, and that breakfast that seemed so far away, in which Laura had dried Ian's pumpkin juice, Nick began to scribble down his answers.

All in all, the exam went as exams should. The students diligently worked on their tests for the full two hours, and overall, Nick thought the exam went quite well. In fact, he thought as Professor Flitwick rose to his feet once more as the gold hourglass had run out of sand, he may have even picked up his first 'Outstanding' N.E.W.T.

"Quills down, please," Professor Flitwick squealed delightfully, as if nothing gave him greater joy than to end his N.E.W.T. test, "And yes, that means you too, Miss Morse…"

In instinct, Nick glanced over at Jade Morse, who was, predictably, scrambling to cram in a few more sentences to her test. She smacked her quill down on the table resentfully.

"Jolly good!" Professor Flitwick beamed once more as he directed his wand at the students and sent their tests zooming swiftly up to him and landing neatly in a large pile on the Staff Table.

As their Practical Charms N.E.W.T. was next, Professor Flitwick ordered them to rise from their desks, as he magicked them away as mysteriously as they had appeared. He then gave a rather violent flick of his wand, and three tables long tables appeared, with curtains draping on either side, so they were sheltered from view.

"And now," Professor Flitwick chirped excitedly, "I will introduce you to your examiners…ah yes, here they are now."

As he spoke, the three eccentric examiners from before spilled out into the hall from the door Nick had seen the Triwizard Champions depart into three years previous. All three of them were lined up and beaming down at the students, whose nervousness intensified as their written test was over.

"Professors Dubois, Swanton, and Thomas," explained Professor Flitwick.

At their names, each of the three examiners stepped forward, Professor Dubois even tried to do a little bow, but he hollered in pain, clutching his back, much to the amusement of Professor Thomas, who cackled maniacally. Professor Swanton obviously hadn't seen anything, because she was staring ahead absentmindedly. Perhaps she had barnacles growing in her eyes as well. Nick suppressed a laugh.

"When I call your name," Professor Flitwick went on," you will enter one of the tables. I have placed curtains over the tables so each student will have privacy during their individual examinations. And now, we will begin. Please keep the conversation to a dull roar…Adams, Sarah!"

A trembling Sarah staggered over to Professor Flitwick, who ordered her to go to table one with Professor Dubois. It was not until Professor Flitwick had called two more of his classmates, that Nick began to grow nervous. He walked up to Mary and Sarah, who were standing next to each other in the corner of the Hall, muttering incantations under their breath.

"Gamp's-Law-of-elemental-Transfiguration—" Sarah began, but Nick interrupted.

"Sarah, we're in a _Charms_ exam, not Transfiguration."

"What!?" Sarah said in alarm, "Oh, oh, yes…er—I must have forgot…"

Mary laughed nervously. Professor Flitwick had advanced through the C's and was now moving steadily toward the D's.

"Well," Mary said reassuringly, "I've studied so much, I think I could be prepared for _anything_…"

"DeLorenzo, Mary!"

"AHHH!" Mary shrieked, throwing her bag down and jumping up in frantic alarm, "Oh, I know I'm going to fail everything…"

She walked a little too quickly to the front of the room, knees knocking together as she went, almost knocking a startled looking Demelza over, in her pursuit.

Nick's mouth grew drier and drier as Flitwick progressed through the list…soon he rounded on the R's…and…

"Ramirez, Demelza? Scnider, Zoe? Southwick, Nicholas?"

Sarah forced an encouraging smile and then went back to muttering under her breath and Nick walked up obediently up to tiny Professor Flitwick.

"Mr. Southwick, I believe Professor Swanton is free…"

He walked nervously into the third table, which had white curtains draped over its sides. Sitting inside, was Professor Swanton, who was twirling her hair vaguely and staring in wonder at what Nick was sure Muggles called 'Trolls'. They were ugly little dummies with shocks of stringy multi-colored hair, and they were wearing no clothing.

"Oh, hello!" Professor Swanton said brightly, looking up at Nick, placing her troll neatly back down on the table, "Monsieur Beaumont and I are ready to start your test."

"Er—Monsieur Beaumont?"

She pointed excitedly at the troll, whose shocking orange hair stood up on edge.

"Oh, um…er—right," was all he could muster.

"Okiedokie, then," Professor Swanton declared, shuffling through a large pile of parchment on her right, "You're Nicholas Southwick, are you?"

"Yes."

"Ah yes," she said affectionately, "I once had a troll named Nicholas—" her expression turned violent "—but he got into a hideously _gruesome_ fight with another one of my trolls and was sadly beheaded."

Nick didn't know what to say to this. Apparently, Professor Swanton was used to students not understanding her mania. Instead, she said,

"Okay, we'll start now. You'll have to speak up though, because Granny's got some stubborn old barnacles growing in her ears…" she gestured vaguely to her ears, which looked extremely red and irritated up close, probably from all the pokes and jabs from her wand.

"You will first," she informed him, "show me the Drought Charm."

Nick thought calmly, _Chemarios_!, and a raging pool of water appeared on the desk, flooding Monsieur Beaumont.

"_Sitis_," he said confidently, pointing his wand at the water. He watched with satisfaction as the water disappeared instantly and Monsieur Beaumont's orange hair stood straight once more, completely dried.

"Oh, bravo!" Professor Swanton said merrily, scribbling onto a piece of parchment in front of her, "and now, just a few more things, before we quit…"

The rest of the practical went by without a hitch. The only problem was when Nick's quill was supposed to be doing cartwheels, and it did somersaults instead. Finally, when Nick thought he had done very well, and the exam would be finished, Professor Swanton held him back.

"Now, one of the most important aspects of charmwork," she explained, "is the ability to think and create spells on the spur of the moment…that is to say, spontaneously. Do you think you could create some _snow_ for me, possibly, using several different Charms you have learned throughout your Wizarding education?"

Nick could not refrain from smiling, as delightful memories of the Christmas day snowball fight came reeling into his mind.

"Of course," he said triumphantly. He then thought. What had they done to create the snow…well, first there was…he thought _Chemarros_ once more, and a raging pool of water appeared on the desk. He then thought desperately for the correct Switching Spell and watched Professor Swanton's delight gleefully, as the pool of water instantly transformed into a puffy white clump of snow.

"Bravo! Excellent—simply excellent, wouldn't you say so, Monsieur Beaumont? Simply splendid," she beamed at him, "Very well, Mr. Southwick, you may go!"

Nick turned swiftly on his heel, thanked Professor Swanton and strode triumphantly, with a newfound confidence out of the curtain-draped table.

Nick soared through Transfiguration and Potions without a hitch. He was sure that his Transfiguration final was very high indeed. He also had met Professor Swanton's colleagues, Professor Dubois and Professor Thomas. In the end, neither of them had a crazed mania about plastic Muggle trolls, but they had proven to be just as eccentric in their own way. For example, Professor Thomas had given him the warmest smile possible when he had entered and then barked at him like he had murdered one of her relatives when she told him that he could take a seat. Professor Dubois was probably the most ancient of the three. During Nick's Potions exam, he had been mixing a Draught of Living Death, when Professor Dubois looked over his shoulder and was one moment remarking about his potion's superb choice of ingredients, and the next reminiscing about a dog he had almost hit when he was forced to drive in the Muggle countryside by car on the way over.

Nick wished that he could borrow a few points from his perfect Transfiguration and Potions grades, and add it to his Arithmacy result. The test had been particularly hard, and hoping for an 'Outstanding' was certainly out of the question, but Nick thought he might have been able to scrape up an 'Acceptable' or perhaps even an 'Exceeds Expectations'.

His friends were holding up rather well also. The only major problem was when Jade Morse collapsed under pressure during her Transfiguration exam and had blown up Monsieur Beaumont, much to Professor Swanton's utter rage. Jade was running from the Hall bawling, while Professor Swanton ran after her shaking her fist, holding Monsieur Beaumont's ashes, swearing that she would do everything in her power to give her the lowest of N.E.W.T. scores, the dreaded 'T', which, ironically, stood for 'Troll'.

The Muggle Studies N.E.W.T. went fine as well. As it did not count at all towards Nick's future, he didn't bother to study, but merely scribbled down half-hearted answers, as Alecto swooped over them like a hideous vulture. After all, it was her brother's Dark Arts N.E.W.T. that he was really not looking forward to at all. Since Voldemort was in charge, behind the scenes, the Defense Against the Dark Arts curriclium had been permanently modified so the examiners had no right to test it differently.

Nick rose early the next morning, ate breakfast quickly, and then readied himself for the Dark Arts practical. He chose a desk near the same one he had used for his Charms exam two days ago, and once Amycus rose to his feet and hissed at them to be quiet and start the exam, Nick's eyes darted down to the parchment that was lying in the center of his desk. He read:

Name: Blood Status:

_Seventh Year N.E.W.T. Examination for the Dark Arts_

_Instructor: Professor Amycus Carrow_

School: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Annoyed, Nick wrote down his name and 'half-blood' in the appropriate spaces. He irritably turned read on.

First Section: List the two breeds of humans that an acquaintance with shall cost the offender a three-year status in Azkaban Wizarding Prison.

_1._

_2._

Growing steadily more enraged, Nick wrote down 'Muggle-borns' and 'blood-traitors'. He knew that Amycus most likely wanted them to write 'Mudblood' instead, but he refrained, as he could not bring himself to write the word.

The test was just as Nick had expected. It went on and on, asking about the most gruesome potions, curses, hexes, and jinxes. They even had to write their own paragraph explaining why calling the Unforgiveable Curses 'Unforgiveable' was unjust and naïve. It became ultimately clear that Nick would have to perform these curses for the practical, there was no doubt about it.

Finally, when Amycus motioned that the test was over, Nick furiously lied his quill back down on his desk, wondering all the while, whether becoming a healer was worth this. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Amycus called Nick to the front of the room, where he would soon enter one of the tents, where screams of agony were emitting from within.

"In," hissed Amycus, pointing at Professor Swanton's table. When Nick entered it and sat down, she looked intensely white, not at all vague and playfully insane as usual. Instead, she merely said, "Welcome back, Mr. Southwick. Now—er—Professor Carrow had demanded that you perform the Cruciatus Curse on—" she motioned from behind the table, and a trembling first year girl came out "—these 'troublesome' first years who have earned detention…"

Nick actually raised his wand obediently, and then felt immediately ashamed. What was more important, his aspiring career, or doing the more honorable thing? He had to choose. But yet, looking into the first year girl's eyes, which were begging for mercy, without having to voice a thing, he shoved his wand back into his robes.

"I can't," he said hoarsely, "I won't…"

Professor Swanton braved a smile, "Alright then, you're about the fifth one who hasn't got it in them…" she dropped her voice a little "—and now, Yvonne, you can please scream as if he is torturing you…so the Death Eater won't know…"

On cue, the girl called Yvonne screamed and hollered in fake pain, while shooting smiles of relief at Nick, while Professor Swanton made scribbles on her parchment.

Nick left the concealed table feeling quite triumphant, and even smiled broadly in Amycus' face, who looked quite repulsed and barked at him to not look so happy.

Having the Dark Arts exam out of the way, gave Nick the feeling that an enormous weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He was even more confident than he had been after passing his Charms exam with flying colors. Beaming, he sat down at the Gryffindor table with his friends during lunch.

"I think Transfiguration went well," Mary was saying nervously, "but I'm not sure if I did myself justice on the Vanishing Spells—see, I was able to Conjure the fur jacket that they wanted, but then I was supposed to Vanish it, and there were still buttons…"

"Mary!" her brother snapped irritably, "we've already been through the tests once, so shut up about them! C'mon we've got Herbology next, and personally, I think you need to study for whatever nightmare Sprout pulls out for us to work with…"

"Well," Sarah said calmly, "at least, I can finally forget Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration…they only used the fifth precept on the test, and I had to go an memorize the whole thing…"

"How was Care of Magical Creatures?" Nick asked, turning towards Christina, who had broken into some sandwiches.

"Great," she replied, with her mouth full, "I loved it. We got to see more unicorns—" she swallowed noisily "—and I lifted some bowtruckles from that old examiner, guy…the random one…his name was—er—"

"Dubois?" Mary supplied.

"Yeah, yeah, him," Christina explained, "well, I've been so sad after my last bowtruckle pair died, so when he started talking about the International Magical Association for Entertaining Muggles, I snatched up two on the table. They're in my dormitory."

"Well, at least it's winding down," Sarah Doucette's friend, Erin said. They were sitting behind them, going over their flashcards once more.

"_Winding down_!?" Mary shrieked, "We've still got four tests to go!"

"Humph," Erin declared, "I was only trying to be optimistic, but I guess _some_ people around here…"

She stormed off, grabbing Sarah Doucette by the hand. Nick watched them vaguely go off and sit next to a rather short and stocky sixth year who looked strangely like a leprechaun, at the Hufflepuff table, whom Nick was sure was called Patrick Hall. Nick turned away and gave his attention back to _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ when Erin started to tickle Patrick's arms, and hug him.

"_Honestly_," Mary breathed, turning back to her book from starting at Erin and Patrick, "And _I_ thought Gary and I were bad…"

Nick suppressed a small laugh, and looking across the table, he saw Sarah forcing herself not to chuckle as well. Gary was a boy Mary had dated three years ago at the Yule Ball, and having them around each other with you was extremely annoying. For example, they called each other certain fond names, the least embarrassing of which being, "Maryberry" and "Gary-poo". Ceasing his reminiscing, Nick turned his attention back to _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_, which he slammed shut, feeling entirely confident in his abilities.


	15. Chapter 15 The Traitor Revealed

Chapter 15 – The Traitor Revealed Chapter 15 – The Traitor Revealed

_Section Four – Please fill in the blank anatomy of a Mandrake (Mangradoria)._

Nick thought hastily back to his second year, when he had helped raise mandrakes with Professor Sprout in order to cure the poor victims of Slytherin's monster, who had been petrified. Overall, Nick thought as he scribbled, the test was going very well. They were inside of Greenhouse Eleven, which was reserved only for the most dangerous and high level plants. They had only been here once before, on a more memorable occasion, when Jade Morse had incorrectly opened a Sufulus Pod, and its flesh-eating seeds scrambled all over the greenhouse, showering everyone.

It was very hot, and the steam clung to Nick's nose and combined with sweat as he tried to remember from which part of the world Fanged Begonias originated from. Beside him, Sarah had already progressed passed her written test, and was hastily scooping soil over from putrid orange seeds. On his other side, Daniel was deciding which of the two fungous mushrooms in front of him was safely edible, and which was a fast-acting venomous poison. Professor Sprout sat at the head of the long table, occasionally telling people off for glancing in the direction of another's test, as they practically shoulder to shoulder.

"Ugh," Sarah whispered from beside him, as her seeds broke apart and an ugly strangled hissing sound emitted from them, while bright yellow pus started to ooze from her pot.

Nick turned back to his own test, and quickly finished the section about Fanged Begonias, which we was quite sure had originated from North America, and progressed to filling his own pot with soil and carefully placing some bright purple seeds into it, while watching it, amazed, as they immediately let out bright green stems upon being watered, which rose steadily up to the ceiling.

"Time's up," Professor Sprout declared, tapping on her battered old wristwatch, "Quills down, please."

Grudgingly, Nick finished the last problem and cut it short, rouding off his last answer and placing his quill placidly on his desk.

"Now, I'm sure you all did very well," Professor Sprout beamed at them all, "I have the upmost confidence and all of you. Your N.E.W.T. results will be sent to you by owl post during the summer. You may go."

She flicked her wand and the tests flew into her open arms. When Nick stood to get up, Sarah was already at the door.

"C'mon," she said quickly, "we've got to study for tomorrow's tests now…"

"_Honestly_, Sarah, do you do anything besides study? Why, you would've gone without eating if we hadn't had anything to say about it," snapped Mary.

"Tomorrow _I've_ got Ancient Runes," Sarah retorted, "and it's the toughest thing there is if you ask me…"

"Speak for yourself," Daniel shuddered, "I'd be lucky if I passed Arithmacy…"

Even though there had only been one last day of exams looming forward, it was no reason to start celebrating, as Sarah constantly reminded them. Nick felt insanely guilty, because he hadn't been up to the Room of Requirement in ages to visit Laura, whom he knew was probably fairly lonely, having only Ian's company throughout the days. He planned to go tonight, to study for Astronomy.

The castle was dark when Nick decided to leave the comfort of his dormitory to visit Laura. Snatching up his Astronomy star chart and textbooks, he discreetly exited Ravenclaw Tower, and went into the dark school.

"_Lumus_," he murmured, as the tip of his wand lit, puncturing through the darkness. He was always tempted to turn back when the terrifying thought of being discovered by the Carrows and for while he rounded the Charms corridor and Professor Flitwick's office, he thought he heard arguing voices. Thinking desperately that it must be the Carrows, he turned back towards Ravenclaw Tower defensively, but then, upon hearing that it was indeed the voices of Professor Dubois and Professor Flitwick himself, who were apparently arguing over who had won their duel back in the day.

Chuckling silently to himself, Nick proceeded past his Head of House's office and crept to the sixth floor.

He did not hear or see anything else for the rest of his little excursion. On the contrary, the castle could not have been more silent. Nick was already thinking of ways to wake up Laura if she had already retired for the night…but perhaps she was still awake.

When he reached the giant oak doors to the Room of Requirement, which had just materialized on the stone wall, he was sure that it was nearly midnight. As he gave it a little nudge, he was sure that someone had gasped from within.

It was Laura. She was sitting in an armchair facing the door, apparently dozing off while reading.

"Oh, Nick, it's you," she said in relief, she then frowned slightly, "You know, I've been staying up every night…I thought you said you would come…"

"Er—sorry," Nick apologized awkwardly, "Well, N.E.W.T.s have been on my mind, haven't they?"

"Oh, right, I should have known," Laura said, looking a little hurt, "it's just not very entertaining to watch Ian and Jordan either scheme or snog all day…"

Nick braved a laugh, and then, noticing that his wand was still shining, he declared, "_Nox_," and it was extinguished immediately.

"Well, how have the tests gone?" Laura said expectantly.

"Very well so far," Nick explained. The then went into intense detail, hoping to cheer Laura up. He mentioned Sarah's exploding seeds during Herbology, and all the other little misadventures that they shared, careful to pause to allow for Laura's laughter when he explained about how Jade had blown up Monsieur Beaumont.

"So how have you been?" Nick asked, as he concluded.

"Not very good," Laura said sadly, "I wish more than anything that I could be out there taking the tests with you and the others…and well, nothing's happened except—" her eyes lit up suddenly, "Harry's been seen! I heard about it on _Potterwatch_ last night!"

"What!?" Nick exclaimed, dropping his Astronomy star chart and hyrrying to sit in the armchair next to Laura.

She seemed pleased that she was getting this level of attention.

"He's broken into a Gringott's vault," Laura declared, savoring every word, "and he escaped…on a _security dragon_. Apparently V-Voldemort was there as well, and they must have stole something very valuable to him, because he was furious."

"Really?!" Nick gasped. This was big news. Could it possibly mean that Harry was finally making some progress?

"I know," Laura said happily, "the others were positively _ecstatic _when they heard. Even Ian and Jordan seemed to find nothing bad to say about it…they've been really pessimistic lately, it's rather annoying, really."

"How's it going with them?"

"They're still determined to hate you…and Demelza," she said simply, "but it's getting harder for them to convince people, but Dan and Seamus help them out whenever—and those cows, Parvati and Lavender keep oohing and ahhing over them because—" she made a horrible girly-squeal imitation of Lavender "Oh _Seamus_, you're so _brave_…how did you _ever_ fight off all those manticores single handedly?!"

She rolled her eyes, "So what have you brought to study?"

"Astronomy," Nick said simply, "I've got History of Magic down, but if Sinistra decides to let Firenze help write the test, I'm doomed."

"Oh well," Laura said, "at least it won't hurt your ambitions to become a healer."

"Yeah," Nick agreed, "but it wouldn't hurt to pick up another 'Outstanding', either."

Laura laughed, "I think you have a pretty good chance of—"

"Who's there?!" yelled a sleepy voice suddenly from the boys' dormitory.

"Ian," Laura whispered quickly, "we were too loud…just go…I'll see you tomorrow, maybe…"

"WHO'S THERE!" Ian's voice repeated. Nick hastily grabbed up his Astronomy things, eager to leave, but all the while, not very eager to look like a coward…after all, he had been good friends with Ian for six whole years…

Before he reached the exit to the Room, however, Ian appeared on the scene, reeling out of the boys' dormitory in his pajamas. He stood, shaking his finger at Nick, who was still a good three feet away from the door.

"I thought it was you," Ian declared, his finger still shaking in Nick's direction, "I heard your voice…and you, Laura…why? I thought you both were my friends…"

"Ian," Laura said softly, "we _are_ your friends…we thought you were our friend, but all you do is scheme against Nick all the time, when you _know_ deep down that he would never betray you…"

Ian looked like he had gone completely numb. Apparently, he had not possess the ability to curse his friends, as Seamus and Dan had been so willing to do. This surprised Nick a little, but not wishing to stick around long enough for Ian to change his mind, he turned on his heel, and left, leaving Laura sitting in the armchair and Ian gaping at them, standing stupidly outside of the dormitory with his finger raised in accusation.

The memory of last night blazed in Nick's mind throughout his Astronomy test the next day. To his great relief, however, it appeared that the actual Astronomy curriculum did not include the personalities of the planets. The Astronomy Theory test was the shortest one so far, as the majority of the test material would take place at midnight and he hurried off to the Gryffindor table after it was over.

"…Ancient Runes was horrible," Sarah was sobbing loudly over her tea, "I must have mistranslated ten terms…and how could I be STUPID! I mistranslated 'gurito' for 'guritto'! 'Gurito' means tiny and 'guritto' means miniscule!"

"Er—is there a difference?" Mary asked.

"Of course, it's a _huge_ difference," Sarah snapped irritably, "it makes all the difference in the world!"

"Well, we've only got History of Magic and the rest of Astronomy left though," Demelza piped up encouragingly.

"I s'pose you're right…" Sarah trailed off, "Now tell me again, what's the difference between Udric the Unclean and Diatta the Dirty again?"

"Diatta lived seven thousand years before Udric," Nick said smartly, "and they both led Goblin revolutions."

"Right," Sarah said, scribbling on a piece of parchment she had Summoned from her bag.

They finished the rest of their lunch in silence and then trudged off to their dormitories for some last minute studying. After yelling at some first years to settle down, Nick sat down in a vacant armchair and browsed through _A History of Magic_. History of Magic had always come rather easy for him, and he had no doubt in his mind that the test would go well.

Predictably, it went very well. Nick filed out of the Great Hall, reminiscing happily about the long essay he had written about goblin rebellions, and how he was sure he was going to score an 'Outstanding'. He met with his friends, and they took a long walk around the grounds, reveling in the fact that they had only one short test left. Even Sarah couldn't find something to be stressed about.

"It'll be sad to leave," Demelza said fondly, looking out upon the castle from by the lake.

"Not if the Carrows are still teaching," Nick said darkly. Demelza hastily agreed.

"It hasn't been the same this year," Daniel said sadly, "and I've been starting to wonder when we will be able to move the Muggle-borns…"

"Yeah," Mary replied, "it doesn't look like Harry's coming back any time soon…and they can't stay here during the entire summer holidays…"

"We'll work something out," Nick said firmly.

"I sure hope we do," said Sarah.

The afternoon passed uneventfully. Nick and the others sat in the glorious sunshine on the lake's shores, reviewing their star charts and speaking fondly of their chosen careers after leaving school.

"I doubt I'll get the right amount of N.E.W.T.s," Mary sighed, "but I've always dreamed about being an Auror."

"Mechanic," her brother said simply, "I don't fancy the death toll that comes with being an Auror."

"Me neither," Christina interjected, "I want to study abroad—in America."

"Why America?" asked Sarah.

Christina shrugged, "I've always wanted an American accent."

They all laughed.

"Personally, I'd fancy being a healer," Nick said, his eyes wide, "but I hope St. Bettina's accepts me…they get a lot of applications…"

"Nick, please," Sarah said shortly, "does everyone who applies have all 'Outstanding' N.E.W.T.s?!"

"You mustn't _say_ that," Nick said worriedly, "I might fail a few—"

"Please," Sarah rolled her eyes, "anyway, I've always wanted to help people in some way…I'm really not so sure about what I want to do…I guess an Auror would be cool, but it's a really hard career choice…"

"Hmm," Demelza said finally, after everybody had turned to her, "I wanted to be a Wandmaker for ages, but I never got to finish up Wandlore…they had to replace it with stupid _Muggle Studies_ this year, anyways."

"Ha," Mary said, "at least we have interesting jobs planned—" she lowered her head and dropped her voice a little "—Dan and Patrick want to train security trolls."

"They'll fit in fine there," Demelza joked, "and hey—which one of these is the Trinxnix Constellation again?"

She proffered her star chart.

"This one, I think," Sarah said, pointing.

"Oh right, thanks."

After dinner had long since passed, the seventh years, all thoroughly excited that their N.E.W.T.s were finally drawing to a close, walked up to the Astronomy Tower. When Nick opened the hatch that lead to the open top of the tower, a cold rush of wind befell him, making him shiver and pull his cloak tighter around him.

"Brr…" Sarah whispered from beside him as they took seats under the stars. Nick looked around, expecting to see Professor Sinistra, but instead he saw Professor Dubois standing in the front of the assembled chairs.

Nick sat down, and began to ready his telescope, focusing it on the nearest constellation. Beside him, Sarah did the same.

"Good evening," Professor Dubois said rather grumpily once they had all settled into their seats, "Your teacher, Professor Sinistra, cannot be here tonight, as she is—er—spending time reviewing the fifth year O.W.L. results with the Divination teacher, Firenze. Instead, I will be leading you in your examination tonight."

He glanced around at the students and then looked up at the sky, saying, "My, my, I haven't seen the stars so bright since nineteen-forty-seven…"

To Nick's right, Demelza cleared her throat loudly.

"Ah yes," Professor Dubois said suddenly, "now where was I? Oh, yes, your N.E.W.T. examination…very well…here are your tests themselves—" he flicked his wand and like every other examination so far, several pieces of parchment flew onto their laps, along with a black quill and tiny bottle of ink.

"You may begin," Professor Dubois explained, "please fill in your blank star charts first…"

Obediently, the class pulled out their star charts and began to scribble down the various names of the many constellations and stars. More than once, Nick shivered, for the wind was very fierce that night. Being on top of the tallest tower in the school didn't help much either. His hand quickly became numb as he finished scrawling onto his star chart.

Nick was finishing his last sentence on his essay concerning the origins of the Trinicotta Constellation when he saw it. Fluttering in the distance, beneath the Astronomy Tower, was a tiny white owl. It was having great difficulty flying against the swirling wind. It had appeared that someone had let it out from a window somewhere within the castle, for it had definitely not flown out of the Owlery, as it was on the other side of the school. Not wanted it to distract his attention, Nick turned back to his essay, but then paused once more to gaze at the little white owl…and suddenly…something came back into Nick's memory…the owl…it looked rather _familiar_…

Suddenly, Nick knew where he had seen it before. Daniel had come out of the post office, clutching its cage, where it sat, along with a few other owls…but that was when they had been shopping for the Muggle-borns months ago…why had one of the Muggle-borns released their owl to fly off from the Room of Requirement in the middle of the night?

Even more suspiciously, it seemed to be determined to make it all the way to the Astronomy Tower. It was now only a good ten feet away, directly underneath Nick. Suddenly, with a tiny burst of speed, the owl propelled itself to the top of the Astronomy Tower, where it landed with a thud on top of Nick's completed star chart.

Looking around, dazed, to make sure Professor Dubois hadn't seen anything, he quickly untied a small letter that was tied clumsily to its stubby little leg. Could it possibly be that the letter was addressed to him?

Demelza looked around curiously at Nick, and dropped her quill.

"What the—" she started, but Nick silenced her.

"Shhh," he whispered, "we'll see who it's from…there isn't even a _name_ on it…"

He carefully untied the letter and folded it open. It was written on a small, ripped piece of parchment, and Nick almost yelped when he read the message. Written in shaky handwriting was the following message:

_HELP! They've found out about the Room! You've got to come help us immediately! We're hiding, but they'll find us eventually…don't let them take us…_

Neville

"WHAT!?" Demelza yelled at the top of her lungs, seriously alarmed.

"My dear young lady!" Professor Dubois hollered suddenly, "We are in the middle of an examination!"

"Sorry Professor," Demelza said hastily, "I—er—forgot…um…I've got to go to the bathroom!" She grabbed Nick fiercely by the hand, and gestured to Sarah, Daniel, Mary, and Christina, who were all staring at them, their tests forgotten, looking completely worried.

"The test is not over!" Professor Dubois yelled, "I will not permit you to leave at any—"

"Professor, please!" Nick said quickly, "It's Demelza, sir! I think all the exams have gotten to her head, she doesn't look good at all…"

"Er—perhaps we should take her to the Hospital Wing?" Sarah said slowly, catching on, "we're done with our tests anyway, Professor…"

Perhaps it was Professor Dubois' eccentricity that saved them that night, for he merely said, "Fine, if you must. I will collect your tests…Hospital Wing, Hospital Wing…I helped them build that extension back in the day…"

Once Nick, Demelza, Sarah, Daniel, Mary, and Christina were all safely in the hallway, outside of the Astronomy Tower, Sarah said,

"What the heck was that all about!?"

"It's this letter," Nick said quickly, "Now come on, we've got to run!"

He set a brisk pace to the sixth floor, and the others followed. Upon reading Neville's letter aloud, Sarah moaned, "Oh no…how did the letter get to you?!"

"An owl," Nick replied.

"They didn't have owls," Mary snapped quickly, "remember, they were all in the Owlery—"

"Daniel, didn't you get those owls for the Muggle-borns around Christmas?" Nick asked.

"Well, yes, I did," Daniel said, gasping for breath as they ran, "and it looks like they came in handy after all…"

As soon as they raced headlong into the sixth floor corridor, something horrible happened, however. All Nick remembered were several bright jets of red light, and the next thing he knew, he was drifting away, completely unconscious.

When Nick awoke, he was sore all over his body, and tight ropes and chains were ripping away at him. He was tied up gruesomely on a wall. His bindings did not allow him to turn his head, but he tried anyway, to get a glimpse of his friends…if they had died, it was all his fault…

A grunt of pain from his right told him that Demelza was stirring. Suddenly the door to whatever room they were held in opened, and light flooded the room, blinding Nick momentarily, so he only saw two shadowy shapes enter.

"Tut, tut, tut," rasped Amycus Carrow, "A Slytherin…and Ramirez as well…"

"We've finally got them!" his sister shrieked victoriously.

"Look, sister," Amycus snarled, "this one's coming around…"

He pointed menacingly at Nick.

"Mmm!" Nick shouted, but no words came out, as he soon realized they had gagged him as well.

"What has he got to say?" Alecto said suddenly, removing his gag.

"You pathetic, foul, evil—" Nick started, but Alecto had already shouted over him.

"You will tell us, you miserable little blood-traitor, where your friends are hiding," she hollered, "and you will tell us NOW! You're pathetic little games are over…if you lie, one of your friends die…"

She motioned to the limp, bound forms of Christina, Mary, Daniel, Sarah, and Demelza, who were just waking. Several looks of surprise crossed their faces when they saw the identities of their attackers.

"I would _never_ tell—" Nick began, but Alecto gagged him once more.

"We'll find out soon enough…if it hadn't been so hard for our spy to help us brake the enchantment, you will takes us there personally," snarled Amycus, "You've proven to be so extraordinarily dimwitted so far, why, it only took one little owl—"

"_Your_ owl!?" Nick heard Demelza choke.

"Of course we sent the owl," Alecto said horribly, "how else d'you think we could have gotten you so easily."

"Don't lie to them, sister," Amycus snarled, "_we_ didn't send the owl—our little spy did. In fact, she's been taking orders for us for the _longest_ time. We haven't had to lift a finger…"

He was interrupted fiercely by the door swinging open and a third figure bursting into the room.

"_Please_," begged a desperate voice, "you promised you wouldn't hurt them…_please_…"

"Move over, silly girl," Alecto screeched, "don't go turning sides on us too—"

Nick looked revoltingly as the moonlight shone through the window, reflecting on to the pleading face of none other than Jade Morse.


	16. Chapter 16 Captured by the Carrows

Chapter 16 – Captured By The Carrows Chapter 16 – Captured By The Carrows

"YOU!" Demelza screamed accusingly. Jade bowed her head and started to bawl.

"Yes," Alecto taunted, obviously enjoying herself a great deal, "one of your little friends has indeed been spying for us…now Jade, move aside, dear, and let me finish them off—"

"NO!" Jade insisted, "You can't! You promised me they would be safe! You promised you would help keep my family and I safe—you can't hurt them!"

"Move aside," Amycus warned. He turned to Sarah, "if you're not going to tell us where they are now—we're going to finish you off, one by one, until someone loosens their tongue. _Avad—_"

"NO!" Jade screeched. She jumped on top of Amycus, but before she could draw her wand, Alecto was already brandishing hers.

"Miserable, traitorous whelp—_Avada Kedavra!_" she snarled, pointing her wand at Jade.

Every single one of them screamed as Alecto's jet of green light hit Jade squarely in the back and she rolled off of Amycus' back, and lay limp, unmoving on the floor.

"MURDERER!" screamed Demelza, she was doing all she could to free herself from her chains, but it was no use.

Alecto shrieked in horrific glee, "You ain't a true Slytherin, silly girl. Your pathetic little friend was working against you the entire year!"

Demelza, as good as she was at coming back at retorts, apparently couldn't think of anything to say. Instead, she shrieked harder, and wiggled around furiously, trying to undo her chains.

To Demelza's right, Sarah was crying, Mary was staring, shocked at Jade's lifeless body, Christina had fainted, and Daniel was looked wide-eyed at the scene in front of him. It must have been a nightmare…Nick thought quickly, yeah, a nightmare brought on by the pressure of exams…and he would wake up in a few moments before the exams had started…

But it was certainly not a dream. The cold reality of it all was that Jade had spied for the Carrows for the whole year…normally, Nick would be furious, yet in present circumstances, as she was lying on the floor, killed during Alecto's rage…how could he feel?

"You're going to tell us," Alecto snapped, kicking Jade off of her brother, "where and how to get to your little friends."

"We would all die before we told you anything," Nick snapped, "we wouldn't betray them."

He glanced wildly at Demelza and their gaze met. They needed a plan—something quick and witty that could buy themselves a little more time…

"But why, Nick?!" Demelza shrieked, "why would Jade betray us…"

It was as good of a try than any…Nick had to keep it going…he thought desperately.

"She wasn't there during Christmas," he said slowly, as the truth cam to him, "she was in the Hospital Wing, remember? She blew up her cauldron during potions…and Daniel, _he_ gave her that owl…he must have, and then she told them—" he gestured to the Carrows, who were advancing upon them "—that she was going to send the owl and for them to stand behind the sixth floor corridor, and that they would catch us…the ones responsible for hiding the Muggle-borns—"

"Wrong on one point, filthy half-blood!" Alecto shrieked. Nick gave a silent sigh…perhaps it was working…

"Miss Morse has not been spying for us the entire time," she croaked, "we've had someone from the very beginning—someone whose ultimate goal was to befriend the friends of Harry Potter, as we knew you would do something rebellious. We thought we could put a swift end to it, but then, with you using the Room of Requirement and all, our original spy was trapped, and it would look extremely suspicious if she were to leave the safe haven of the Room."

"So," Amycus snarled, "our spy had to befriend one of the more—_dimwitted_ of your friends, and convince them to help her. And she played her part perfectly. Miss Morse has been giving away information that the original spy gave her all along, and meanwhile, from within the Room, our spy was able to split your friends in half, thus crippling your resistance."

"You haven't won," Sarah said quietly, "you'll never get into the Room—it only obeys Neville."

"Ah, yes, the pathetic Neville Longbottom," Amycus said, laughing hideously, "I suppose we may have come to this. You see, that was part of my genius—" he laughed again in spite of himself, and turned to Nick "—you see, we had no idea which students were helping Neville hide the Mudbloods until tonight…you see…Miss Morse would never give away the identities of the students involved…she claimed that the magic of the Room was forbidding her to do so, she even resisted the Imperious Curse…but one thing she _did_ say is that one of you had a very annoying quality of seeing good in everyone, and rushing to anyone's aid if they were in danger. It was easy. Miss Morse went to your hideout this evening and brought us one of the owls the young Mudbloods had received for Christmas. Knowing that the owl would recognize whom had bought it, we ordered it to find 'those who have been plotting against us'. It worked magnificently. Owls are very simple magical creatures, yet they remember faces and locations famously. That is why they are so frequently used in post…"

"And all we had to do was write the fake letter, sign it by Neville, the only person who we knew had escaped from us and was most likely hiding in the Room of Requirement," Alecto cackled, "and it must have found the right person, obviously. You came right to us, fallen clumsily into our trap."

"Enough stalling," Amycus said suddenly, cutting across his sister, "what is the secret to the Room!? How do we get in! We'll kill you all if we have to—"

"Wait!" Mary screamed suddenly, "You're lying…you _have _to be! You said there was someone else working for you—from the beginning, but we've known everyone for six years—"

"No we haven't," Nick said glumly. It was all becoming too clear, "Don't you see, Mary? Someone who befriended us at the beginning of this year, someone who came right up to us to spy on us since we were Harry Potter's friends? Mary, it was Katrina who—"

"—came into your compartment on the first day," Alecto sneered, "yes, half-blood, you are correct. Katrina Goshwark is most certainly not a Mudblood. Her real name is Abratlyn Kenney, a pureblood, from a family of long standing loyal Death Eaters. Her goal was to befriend you from the very start and spy on you for the entire year."

It was the obvious, painstaking truth. Hadn't Ian even mentioned something about the Kenneys at the Sorting? It was Katrina who became suddenly interested in the D.A. It was Katrina who received the owl from Daniel at Christmas. In fact, Nick was now remembering that it was Katrina who had woken up extremely early on Christmas morning, and was seriously surprised when she saw the others already awake…she had probably been sneaking out to visit Jade, who was in the Hospital Wing…or rather, visit the Carrows, as Christmas would be an ideal time to do so, since the castle was practically empty, as the majority of the students were on holiday.

They had all been deceived by a mere first year.

"If you're not going to tell us anything…perhaps we should start the—ah—more forceful interrogations.

"We'll start with the smallest one, how about?" he cackled as he flicked his wand and Demelza was instantly released from her bondages and fell to the ground. Before she could reach inside her robes to grasp her wand, Alecto had already roared,

"CRUCIO!"

At once, Demelza writhed on the floor, shouting hideously and inhumanly as Alecto laughed and laughed.

"Let's see how long it takes before dear old Demelza looses her marbles," she screeched.

Demelza's screams intensified, and Nick watched, completely transfixed in horror as she slithered painfully around the floor. He tried to move, but he could do nothing. He was completely helpless, struggling underneath the chains and ropes.

"NO! STOP!" he managed to scream.

"Going to tell us anything?" Amycus snarled, looking at Nick expectantly. Neville had the Room working completely to his advantage…Nick could hardly do anything to reveal it to the Carrows, let alone if he _wanted_ to…

Demelza's screams still rang inside his eardrums…he had little time to choose…they would certainly move on to someone else once they had finished…and Demelza would never be the same…

"ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! I'll tell you!" Nick screamed, his voice intensely hoarse, "Just STOP!"

"NICK, NO!" Mary shrieked.

"WE CAN'T JUST LET HER DIE!" Nick yelled back desperately, "Someone's got to do _something_…"

Suddenly, Demelza's screams started to raise in volume, and her back was cracking hideously in agony. Nick had to do something before—

"STUPEFY!"

Instantly, what seemed like a million jets of red light shot through the room, and before Nick knew what was happening, the Carrows were crumpled up on the ground, and several shadowy figures were standing over them. How on earth could someone have come—?

"Nick!" shrieked one of their saviors. Nick knew that voice. He looked up and squinted his eyes to see Laura, Ian, Jordan, Sarah Doucette, her friend Erin, and her boyfriend Patrick standing above them.

"But," Nick said hoarsely, in alarm, "You left the Room—they'll catch you—"

Laura looked thoroughly excited, yet terrified as well. "We've got to leave," she pleaded, "_Diffindo!_"

She pointed her wand at Nick's chains and they instantly split in half, and he fell to the ground next to Demelza, who was panting, completely pale, gasping for breath.

"What happened?!" Ian asked nervously, "You're all bound in chains, and Demelza looks like she's been tortured…"

Demelza smiled weakly. Perhaps she was glad that Ian had finally called her Demelza and not Ramirez.

"You came just in time—" she started, but then Laura's scream of terror broke across her.

She was standing over Jade's body, which was lying motionless on the stone floor.

"Is she d-d-dead?!" Laura croaked finally.

When Nick nodded, she burst into tears.

"She was the traitor," explained Sarah, as Dan freed her from her ropes and chains, "she's been working against us the whole year—"

"We figured that," Ian cut across her, "the only reason we came was because Jade came running out of the Room, saying she'd done something horrible and had to put an end to it, and we followed."

"She didn't seem right," Laura wept, "and now she's—she's—d-d-dead!"

"Glad you followed," Mary said, groaning in pain as she fell from the wall, as Erin released her. To her right, Patrick had freed Daniel as well, and Sarah Doucette was brandishing her wand across Christina, who fell to the floor, freed as well.

"C'mon," Mary said, pulling Laura away from Jade, "We've got to get to the Room before they wake up—"

She gestured at the limp forms of the Carrows.

The entire way to the Room of Requirement, Nick hoped and prayed that Snape was fast asleep in his office. They looked extremely suspicious, and it was a blessing that the castle was empty, as it was midnight, because they would have been drawing a lot f attention to themselves.

Demelza was grunting in pain, while being supported by Dan, limping all the way. Laura was bawling, as Nick, Sarah, and Mary tried to comfort her. Patrick, Sarah Doucette, Erin, Christina, Ian, and Daniel brought up the rear, all the while discussing mutinously about Jade.

"She's _dead_," Laura sobbed, "can you at least talk better of her!? And Nick says she died defending them…"

Ian looked rather angrily at Nick, as though it was his fault Laura was sobbing all over them.

"Laura, please," Sarah pleaded, "Be quiet! You're going to wake up the whole castle, and you're supposed to be in hiding!"

"Jade hasn't been the only one spying for them," Daniel spoke up grimly.

The others hushed at the news. Even Laura stopped crying.

"Daniel," Nick said softly, "maybe we shouldn't tell—"

"It's that first year girl, Katrina," Daniel declared, pleased with the attention he was getting, completely ignoring Nick's protest.

"KATRINA!?" Laura yelled, "No way! She's the sweetest little girl!"

"Her real name's Abratlyn Kenney," Mary said, "and she's been spying on us the whole year."

"We should have known," Ian replied darkly, "she mentioned her sister during the Sorting, remember? Jahyra Kenney?"

"I remember," Nick supplied glumly, "and we should probably get her out of the Room of Requirement before she can tell anyone, and have Neville adjust the enchantment so it won't allow her entry."

"Good idea," Mary agreed, she then looked out upon them fondly, "it was really brave of you all to come help us like that."

"You're welcome," Jordan said, "we knew something was up when Jade was storming out of the Room, and we followed her, hoping she would lead us to the real traitor, but instead we found you and met them—" she gestured to Patrick, Erin, Sarah Doucette, and Dan "—in the hall. They were coming down from their Astronomy exam."

Suddenly, Ian broke out stiffly, "I—er—think I owe you an apology." He looked at Nick and Demelza sheepishly, "I—er—was raving and I'm sorry if—"

"It's fine," Nick said, before Demelza could open her mouth, most likely to retort, "we're all safe now—er—well, except for Jade—and we all know who was the traitor finally. And besides, what you did tonight kind of makes up for it, Ian."

He smiled awkwardly, "Well—er—thanks."

"Not for me," Nick heard Demelza mutter softly, but just loud enough for Ian to hear her. Ian fell silent as his ears went pink and he blushed.

"I'm sorry too," Jordan said, "let's agree to be friends again, alright? And we will promise not to conspire against each other, okay?"

Once everyone had grunted their agreement, she beamed at them and opened the door to the Room of Requirement, which was dark and deserted, except for Seamus and Neville, who were talking on two armchairs near the fire. They looked up when Nick and the others entered, and exchanged looks of genuine surprise.

"What's going on?" Neville asked finally.

"A lot," Nick said firmly, "but first and foremost—someone has to go wake Katrina and bring her here—" he said, and then added as an afterthought, "and take her wand from her."

"We'll do it," Jordan said, grabbing Laura by the hand, "she knows us best, and won't be suspicious."

They disappeared through the girls' dormitory door, and came out a few moments later, pulling little Katrina gently by the hand.

How could that cute little girl standing before them, yawning, his two untidy pigtails be a traitor? Yet still, Nick knew that something had to be done—

"_Tangela!_" Demelza cried suddenly, pointing her wand at little Katrina, who screamed and became entangled in ropes and chains.

"Not so tight," Laura begged, fresh tears coming on, "oh, I can't watch!"

She buried her head in Jordan's shoulder.

"We'll have to hold her," Nick said, but Neville stepped in front of him.

"Merlin's pants! What are you _doing_!?" he yelled.

"Neville, it's not what it looks like," Nick said calmly, "now step aside, she's dangerous…"

He did not move. "What!?" he cried, "she's an innocent little first year!"

"We heard the whole thing!" Demelza said loudly, "she's been working for the Carrows since the minute she got on the train!"

"Butt Katrina couldn't—" Seamus started, but Sarah cut across him.

"Her name's not Katrina," she said dramatically, "it's Abratlyn. Abratlyn Kenney. She's working with the Death Eaters."

"She couldn't have given them information, she's been in the Room the entire time, we would've seen her leave!" Neville said impatiently.

"That's because she's been working with Jade," Laura sobbed, "and Neville, she's _dead!_ The Carrows've killed her!"

"WHAT!?" Seamus roared, "that doesn't make any sense, if she was working with them, why did they kill her!?"

"She got in their way," Nick said impatiently, "it's a long story, Neville, but you'll hear it later, but for now, we've got to do something abut Katrina!"

"Let her go!" Seamus demanded, "you're turning against us, you can't hurt her!"

Katrina looked terrified, and had back up against the wall, struggling against Demelza's ropes and chains.

"Seamus!" Mary roared, "OUT OF THE WAY!"

"She's right," Daniel agreed, "we heard the whole thing…"

"The Carrows captured us," Sarah explained, "and they tortured Demelza—"

"And Katrina's been helping them all along—" Christina started.

"But she couldn't have!" Seamus argued.

"Move!" Demelza yelled.

"You're insane!" Neville declared.

"BE QUIET!" Nick yelled suddenly. Everybody fell silent immediately. Nick rarely yelled, and they were apparently shocked.

"Listen, we don't want to hear some cock-and-bull story about—" Seamus began angrily, but Nick cut him off.

"No," he said calmly, "it's not that. It's Ariana's portrait. Neville, she's asking for you."

Sure enough, the portrait of Ariana Dumbledore was quietly calling Neville's name. Nick had been surprised she could speak, but yet, she was doing s now, and Neville apparently, was surprised too, because he forgot completely about Katrina and ran over to the portrait and stood facing it for several long minutes.

When he turned around, he was beaming, his mouth was stretched into the biggest smile Nick had ever seen him make.

"Well…?" Demelza asked impatiently.

Neville turned around at them and simply gaped, "Harry's back."


	17. Chapter 17 Harry's Return

_Hi readers! The story is finally coming to an end…but let me assure you of one thing—now that you know who exactly the traitor is (or should I say traitors are), it certainly doesn't by any means that the shocking action and startling revelations are over…anyways, I intend to make it twenty chapters for sure now—as school is starting, and I probably will have limited writing time available. I've already planned out the chapter names however, and if it intrigues you, here they are—Chapter Eighteen – The Battle of Hogwarts, Chapter Nineteen – The Mysterious 'Death' of Harry Potter, and Chapter Twenty – A Hollow Victory! I can't wait until it's all finally finished, I've been working on it for what seems like forever—anyways, happy reading!!_

**Chapter Seventeen - Harry's Return**

"_What!?_" Demelza breathed in shock.

"Harry's back," Neville repeated, "…he's back! He, Ron, and Hermione! They're back!"

"How did you—" began Demelza, but Neville spoke over her.

"Ariana's portrait called to me," he explained, "they're in Aberforth's pub right now…oh, there's so much to _do_!"

Quickly, Neville began barking out orders. Nick was completely flabbergasted that Harry had finally returned, and that he had been a coward and deserted them, that he completely forgot about Katrina—or Abratlyn, rather, who was laying on the floor, squirming around, bound tightly in Demelza's chains.

"Seamus, Ian, and Laura!" Neville said excitedly, "wake everybody up, tell them to gather here—"

"Nick…Demelza, why don't you go wake up the Ravenclaws in the D.A…Sarah and Erin, you take the Gryffindors, Jordan, you can go for the Hufflepuffs, I don't think it will matter if they find you now…"

"Neville, can you be sure he's actually—" Demelza protested again, but Neville kept talking.

"I've got to send messages to Ginny and the older students, I promised I would…we'll have to use the fake galleons…and we've got to do something about the girl" he trailed off, pointing to Katrina, "I'll go get Harry…"

Everyone stood, jaws dropped, staring at Neville as though he had sprouted three extra heads.

"Well," Neville said impatiently, "what are you waiting for? Go!"

Instantly, they all bustled off obediently, sincerely surprised and excited. This was the night, Nick thought, where they could finally fight back and take the school from the Carrows. The Carrows, who had probably awoken with cold fury in their hearts as they realized that their captives had somehow managed to escape them again.

"It'll be easy," Nick explained to Demelza as they left the Room, "there's only Zoe in the Ravenclaw Tower who I think will be able to help…but if we meet anyone else along the way…we'll get them too."

Demelza nodded her agreement, and they sped down the hall to the Ravenclaw Tower, which was tucked far away on the other end of the school.

The stone raven stood perfectly still, and Nick had no doubt that it was fast asleep, and probably did not want to be awoken…but even still—

"Er—stone raven?" asked Nick timidly, "We—er—need to get into the Tower…"

"Wha—" the stone raven burst irritably to life and then, upon seeing who it was, sighed, "oh, it's _you_ again, is it? Probably been doing something dangerous again? Oh yes, and that pesky Slytherin girl—well, in my day faithful Ravenclaws would not admit certain _other_ people—"

"Just give us the riddle!" Demelza snapped.

"Oh right, 'give us the riddle', she says," the stone raven looked angry, "fine then, Miss Impatient…Mold me, wear me, hoard me, share me. The Alchemist will never share me. What am I?"

"It's the Sorcerer's Stone," Demelza said irritably, "right?"

"Sadly incorrect," the stone raven chuckled, "the nerve of some Slytherins…"

"That's not really fair," Nick said, as the answer was clear, "How about the Elixir of Life?"

"Correct," the stone raven said, revealing the passage into the Ravenclaw Tower.

"That stupid bird," Demelza snapped as they entered, "Sorcerer's Stone, Elixir of Life, same thing…"

"Don't take it personally, it just doesn't like Slytherins," Nick said quietly, "now keep your voice down, we've got to wake Zoe…"

"Where is she?"

"In the girls' dormitory—er—I'm sure which one exactly…but as a prefect, I have—" Nick pulled out a piece of parchment from his robes "—the dormitory assignments…"

They searched frantically for Zoe's name, but Demelza found it first, "She's in dormitory number eight…okay, I'll find her…get the other younger Ravenclaw boys, why don't you? Terry Boot and Michael Corner…"

"Good idea," Nick agreed. They bade each other good luck and both sped up the two spiral staircases opposite them. Proffering his dormitory assignment list, Nick quickly found that Michael Corner and Terry Boot shared dormitory number three.

Nick quickly sped into the appropriated door, and instantly saw two bunk beds in which two slumbering boys inhabited.

"Michael! Terry!" he hissed, "wake up!"

It only took about five minutes before an excited Michael Corner and Terry Boot had flung on their cloaks and followed Nick back down to the common room, where Demelza was already dragging a tired and disgruntled Zoe down the stairs.

"It is true!?" Terry exclaimed when they had left Ravenclaw Tower and were heading for the Room, "is it true that Harry's back!?"

"Of course…now shhhh!" Demelza shushed, "you're going to wake up the whole school, it's in the middle of the night—"

"Er—it looks like you've already done that," Zoe whispered fearfully, pointing ahead at a small light and two tall shadows that were flickering from around the bend on the wall in front of them. Two fearful voices were emulating from the direction f the light.

"It's _them_!" Demelza hissed, "quick! In here!"

She pulled Nick by the hand, and kicked open a small broom cupboard that was nearby, wedged between two suits of armor. Once Nick, Zoe, Michael, and Terry had all squished into the rather tight space, Demelza shut the door, leaving it open a small crack so they could barely see the dimly lit hallway.

Sure enough, the figures of Amycus and Alecto Carrow came into view. The latter was holding a lantern in her hand, and was muttering.

"It's Severus," she was saying, "the Dark Lord…he's given him express orders place one of us in the Ravenclaw Tower tonight…and Potter's been spotted in Hogsmeade, they think, but the reports seem a little confused…"

"You guard Ravenclaw Tower," Amycus snarled, "I'll try to find out what this is all about…we can't let the Dark Lord find out about our recent—er—failures…"

"What had you done with Miss Morse?"

"I've hidden the body, I don't think they will find it for a while…besides, no one will care if Potter's nearby…but think, sister, if we could catch Potter ourselves, we would be forgiven…"

"True, true," Alecto cackled, "but you will have to do it without me, brother. I must follow the Dark Lord's orders…"

"I will come for you later," Amycus sneered.

"Understood."

Their voices faded away, as they progressed down the hallway and into Ravenclaw Tower. All Nick could hear was the faint arguing with the stone raven, who, Nick was delighted to hear, was denying them entry.

"We've got to hurry," Demelza whispered, as she pushed the broom closet's door open and they fell back into the dark hall, "we may not have much time left…Harry's the most wanted man in the country, you can bet they'll have a full force task of Death Eaters trying to find him…maybe even Voldemort himself…"

Even in the dark, Nick could faintly see Zoe's, Michael's, and Terry's reaction to Voldemort's name. Zoe had coughed loudly, Michael yelped, and Terry had screamed.

"_Honestly_," Demelza coughed in annoyance as they rounded upon the sixth floor and the Room of Requirement. Nick kicked open the doors, which had just materialized for them, and they entered. Apparently, someone had hidden Katrina, because she was absent from view.

"Is Harry here yet!?" Demelza demanded to Laura, who was standing with Nikki in the corner.

"Er—no," she explained, "Neville's not back yet…"

"We've got to be ready—"

"LOOK!" shrieked Sarah loudly, pointing to Ariana's portrait.

Completely taken back that Sarah could yell so loudly, Nick did not have time to peer through the portrait before he heard Neville's voice reply loudly,

"Look who it is! Didn't I tell you!?"

"HARRY!" Demelza screamed in glee.

Christina, Michael, Terry, and Zoe were doing some kind of dance while screaming, "Potter! It's POTTER!"

"Ron!" Mary exclaimed, "_Hermione_!"

As soon as Neville, Harry, Ron, and Hermione stepped into the Room of Requirement through Ariana's portrait, nearly everyone burst forward to entangle them in hugs, Nick included. When the mass of excited people finally cleared out, Nick could see them.

It looked as though their secret mission had sincerely changed them a great deal. Harry looked much older, his hair more untidy than usual. Ron looked thinner, and more lined, while Hermione's hair was as bushy as ever, and she was squealing in delight as Christina hugged her.

"Okay, okay, calm down," Neville said finally. Obediently, everyone stepped away from Harry and his friends, beaming at them. When Harry began to speak, everyone looked at him expectantly. Nick was ready, whatever came, and he was ready to fight the Carrows and drive them from the school for good.

"Er—where are we?" asked Harry finally in a much deeper voice than Nick had remembered. He appeared to be looking in awe at the Room's interior.

"It's the Room of Requirement," Mary said excitedly, beaming, "but Neville should probably explain, he's the master of the room, anyway…"

"Well," Neville replied modestly, blushing, "the Carrows were chasing me, and the Room appeared again. Of course, it was a great deal smaller then, but as soon as we needed it for another D.A. meeting it got larger as usual…"

"And then when we needed to hide the Muggle-borns—" Demelza spoke up, but Harry said quickly:

"What!?"

"Well, you see," Nick explained, "when the Carrows ordered for all the Muggle-borns to be brought to them for enslavement, we were forewarned by Ginny's dad, so we all managed to grab as many as we could and bring them here."

"The Room's been great," Christina said, beaming fondly at her surroundings, "they've been staying here all year and it hasn't revealed itself to the Carrows, Neville's done a great job—"

"And dormitories appeared for us," Laura chimed in.

"And then when we needed food," Seamus said, "the passageway to the Hog's Head appeared…the only thing the Room can't seem to do is give us food—"

"Well, yeah, food's one of the five laws of Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration," Ron said, while everyone looked astonished, but no one more shocked than Sarah, who had already opened her mouth to recite it to them.

"Enough about us," Ian declared, waving his hand (the one that wasn't holding on to Jordan's, "tell us about you! What have you been doing!?"

"We've been listening to _Potterwatch_ every chance we get," Jordan said, looking at Ian affectionately, "Ian's got a knack for guessing the password…he's so _talented_…"

"We heard about the Gringott's break-in," Laura said loudly, stepping in front of them, "was it true?! You escaped on a security dragon!?"

"Yes, it _is_ true!" Neville yelped excitedly.

"Awesome!" Christina yelled, perhaps because she had a great love for dragons. Everyone applauded excitedly.

"How did you do it!? What were you after!?" Demelza breathed in excitement.

Before he could answer, to Nick's absolute horror (and to probably everyone else's) Harry suddenly grew completely white, clutched his scar, and fell towards the ground, and almost hit it before Ron could support him back to his feet.

"Er—are you alright, Harry?" Nick asked timidly, "maybe you sit down—I expect you're probably really tired—"

"No," Harry said firmly. Nick saw him look worriedly at Ron and Hermione, his eyes wide with fright, "we need to get going."

"We're ready, Harry," Christina said admiringly, "what's the plan?"

"Er—the plan?" repeated Harry, apparently dumfounded. He still looked quite pale and was swaying sickly on his feet, "Well, there's something we—Ron, Hermione and I—need to do, and then we'll get out of here."

Instantly, everyone stopped whooping and cheering. _What_ did Harry say? Did he say that he had to _leave_?! Was everyone right in saying that Harry was on the run and on the look out for himself?!

"What d'you mean, 'get out of here'?" Ian asked coldly.

"Look, we appreciate the warm welcome," Harry said, rubbing his scar, still looking quite white, "but we haven't come to stay—there's something we've got to do…"

"What is it, we'll help!" Demelza cried.

"I—I—I—can't tell you," Harry replied sheepishly.

"What?" Demelza said, shocked. On the contrary, everyone looked quite disappointed. There was a mutinous mumbling that broke out amongst the crowd.

"Why can't you tell us?" Laura asked, looking hurt.

"Harry," Demelza started angrily, "we haven't stayed alive and kept fighting the Carrows all year just so you can come here and refuse our help—"

"Is it something to do with You-Know-Who?" Zoe asked excitedly.

"Well, yeah—" Harry started.

"Then we'll help you!"

Everyone nodded their heads expectantly and a few people, Nick included, rose to their feet immediately.

"You don't understand," Harry pleaded, "We—we can't tell you. We've got to do it alone—"

"WHY!?" Demelza yelled.

"Er—because," Harry said, "well, as some of you might have known, Dumbledore left us a job, and we weren't supposed to tell—I mean, he wanted us to do it, just the three of us…"

"But we're his army!" Neville protested, "Dumbledore's Army. We're all in it together, and we've been trying our hardest, risking everything, to keep it going when you three have been off on your own…"

"It hasn't exactly been a picnic, mate," said Ron.

"We never said it was," Nick said quickly, "but I don't see why you can't trust us…everyone in here is here because the Carrows drove them in, and that proves that we're loyal to Dumbledore—loyal to _you_…"

"Look," Harry started irritably, but he was cut off as several more people stepped out of Ariana's portrait and into the Room. Nick expected that this was the other people that Neville had called using Hermione's fake galleons.

He was right. Dean Thomas, a Muggle-born Gryffindor seventh year, and Luna stepped into the Room.

"We got your message!" Luna said excitedly, "Hi Harry! We thought you might be here!"

"Er—Luna, hi," Harry said, "but how did you—"

"I sent for them," Neville said simply, holding up his fake galleon, "I promised her and Ginny that if you showed up, I'd let them know. We all thought that if you came back, it would mean revolution. That we're going to overthrow Snape and the Carrows."

"Of course that's what it means," Luna said brightly, "Isn't it, Harry? We're going to fight them out of Hogwarts.

"Listen," Harry said in annoyance, "I'm sorry, but that's not what we came for—there's something we've got to do, and then—"

"You're going to leave us in this mess!?" Ian snapped incredulously.

"Of course not," Harry snapped back, "We're trying to get rid of You-Know-Who, and that will benefit everyone in the end, so—"

"Then let us help!" Demelza demanded, "We want to be a part of it!"

They were interrupted, however, by several more people entering the Room from Ariana's portrait. Nick turned to see Ginny, her elder twin brothers, Fred and George, their friend Lee Jordan, and Harry's old girlfriend Cho Chang, who had been a Ravenclaw prefect, the same as Nick the year before.

"So what's the plan, Harry?" George asked as everyone settled in.

"There isn't one," Harry snapped.

"Oh, so we're just going to make it up as we go along, are we? My favorite kind," said Fred.

"You've got to stop this!" Harry said fiercely to Neville, "What did you call them all here for?! This is insane…"

"We're fighting, aren't we?" Dean asked, looking somewhat disappointed, "The message was that Harry was back and we're going to take back the school from the Death Eaters—I'll have to get a wand, though…"

"You haven't got a _wand_--?" began Seamus.

Suddenly, Nick saw Ron and Hermione turn close to Harry, and were whispering. Nick wished they would just let them help…they could get their job done a lot faster that way—and it would be certainly less dangerous, as Harry was the number one most wanted man in the country, and Voldemort was likely to have already sent a platoon of Death Eaters to Hogwarts, since he had merely been spotted in Hogsmeade.

"Okay!" Harry said loudly. Everyone stopped talking immediately, even Fred and George, who were cracking jokes in the corner.

"There's something we need to find," Harry said, and Nick had the great sense that he was carefully choosing his words, "Something here—at Hogwarts. It will help us overthrow You-Know-Who. It may have belonged to Ravenclaw. Has anyone heard of an object like that? Has anyone ever come across something with her raven on it, for instance?"

Harry looked hopefully at Nick, Zoe, Ian, and Laura, who were standing next to each other, but it was Luna, who spoke, from the other side of the Room.

"Well, there's her lost diadem. I told you about it, remember, Harry? The lost diadem of Ravenclaw? Daddy's trying to duplicate it."

"Yeah, but the lost diadem," Ian said, rolling his eyes, "is _lost_, Luna. That's sort of the point."

"When was it lost?" asked Harry hopefully.

"Centuries ago, they say," Laura replied swiftly, "Professor Flitwick says the diadem vanished with Ravenclaw herself."

"Of course, people have looked," Nick piped up, "but no one's ever found a trace of it…"

"Sorry, but what _is_ a diadem?" Ron asked.

"It's like a kind of crown," Zoe explained, "Ravenclaw's was supposed to have magical properties, I think, like it's supposed to enhance the wisdom of the wearer, something like that…"

"Have any of you ever seen what it looks like?" Harry asked, hopeful again.

Everyone shook their heads, except for Cho Chang, who said, "Well, Harry, if you want to see what it looks like, I could take you up to our common room and show you…Ravenclaw's wearing it in her statue…"

Harry whispered quietly to Ron and Hermione and then said, "Okay, I don't think it's much of lead, but I'll go look at the statue…everyone wait here, we'll be back…"

Cho had gotten to her feet, but Ginny cut across her rather fiercely and said, "No, Nick will take Harry, won't you, Nick?"

"Er—sure," Nick said awkwardly, "I'd be…happy too, c'mon, Harry…"

He swiftly led Harry out of the Room, leaving everyone standing inside hopefully behind them. The sixth floor corridor was dark and silent.

"We'll need to be really careful," Nick whispered to Harry, "the Carrow's have always got people patrolling the corridors—"

"Don't they do it themselves?" Harry whispered back.

"Usually," Nick said fearfully, "but—er—you won't be too happy, but Alecto is guarding the Ravenclaw common room, so we'll have to find a way to slip past her…"

"Here," Harry said, pulling out a silvery cloak, "put this on…"

They both flung the cloak over them, and Nick muttered in awe, "Wow, this is an Invisibility Cloak!"

"Yeah," Harry said, "now shh! I think I hear someone coming…"

Sure enough, Flich's cat, Mrs. Norris sulked past them, hissing at some mice that she was chasing down the hall. Steadily, Nick and Harry progressed down towards the stone raven that concealed the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower. They pulled the Invisibility Cloak off of their heads swiftly.

"Oh, you again," the raven said irritably, "I thought it must have been another Death Eater…anyway, Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?"

Before Nick could answer, Harry spoke up quietly,

"What? Isn't there a password?"

"No, you've got to answer a riddle."

"What is you get it wrong?"

"Then you just have to wait for someone else to get it right, that way, you learn, right?"

"Yeah, I s'pose," Harry whispered, "but we can't exactly wait for someone now, Nick…"

"Yeah," Nick agreed, and then, choosing the same answer Laura had given previously this year, he replied, "The circle has no beginning."

The stone raven nodded its approval and the door to Ravenclaw Tower sprung open, and Nick stepped quickly inside while Harry was admiring the spectacular view from the large windows placed around the room. Thankfully, Alecto was no where in sight.

"That's the diadem," Nick said quickly, pointing up to the large statue of Rowena Ravenclaw that stood in front of them, "I don't know if it helps you all that much, but still…"

"_Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure_," Harry read from the small words that were engraved on the statue's diadem.

"Which makes you witless, blood-traitor," said a cold, cackling voice from behind him. Alecto had appeared, jolting down the spiral staircase that lead to the girls' dormitories. Before Nick had time to react, she had already pressed her hand to the Dark Mark, which was engraved on her hand.

"We have the boy!" she declared triumphantly, cackling with hideous laughter.


	18. Chapter 18 The Battle of Hogwarts

Chapter 18 – The Battle of Hogwarts Chapter 18 – The Battle of Hogwarts

Nick thought fast. They had no time to pull the Invisibility Cloak over them to safely disguise themselves from view. Instead, Nick pulled out his wand, and swiftly, gracefully, in front of him in a blur of motion, and thought _Stupefy_, with all his might. In a blurred flash of motion, Alecto was lying on the floor, Stunned.

"C'mon," Nick said hurriedly, "now they know you're here…we've got to get going before her brother shows up."

There had been one problem, however. The intensity of Nick's Stunning Spell had created a rather loud, booming noise that sounded like a small cannon ball. Nick could already hear the scurrying feet of the awoken Ravenclaws above them.

"Get under the Cloak!" Nick hissed at Harry, "they can't see you here!"

Obediently, Harry pulled his Cloak over the two of them, and they strode carefully into a corner to watch the excited Ravenclaws come down and gasp with pleasure when they saw Alecto on the ground, unconscious.

"Oooh!" declared a first year Ravenclaw boy, "I think she might be _dead_!"

He nervously prodded her with his finger, and when she did not stir, everyone cheered.

Suddenly, however, there was a violent rap on the common room door, and all the little Ravenclaws froze and darted fearfully away from Alecto's unconscious body.

Nick heard the stone raven ask irritably, "Not you again…ugh…Where do Vanished objects go?"

"I demand that you open this door at once!" demanded the venomous voice of Amycus Carrow, "Stupid statue—ugh!"

The Ravenclaws back away in fear, and a few ran back up to their dormitories. Nick watched the whole thing, invisible of course, from the corner of the common room.

"Where do Vanished objects go?" the stone raven asked again, this time, a lot more impatiently.

Amycus, however, seemed to have given up on his ability to answer the stone raven's questions, because he was shouting frantically, "Alecto? ALECTO! Are you in here? Have you got Potter? OPEN THIS DOOR!"

Amycus' voice soon raised, and he began bolting his fists on the door, yelling insanely at the top of his lungs,

"ALECTO! If he comes and we haven't got Potter—d'you want to go the same way as the Malfoys?! ANSWER ME! ALECTO? _ALECTO_?!"

Nick's thoughts turned wild. Could Amycus break through the door? Was Voldemort indeed coming now? Coming _here_!? Nick knew that it would not be very good to be discovered, having just attacked a Death Eater, and hiding under an Invisibility Cloak with Harry Potter—the most wanted man in the country.

"May I ask what you are doing, Professor Carrow?"

That was the cold, icy voice of Professor McGonagall.

"Trying—to—get—through—this—door!" Amycus shrieked, and now, the loudest rasp yet hit the door, and Nick was sure that he had probably kicked it in his rage.

"But isn't your sister in there?" Professor McGonagall asked dryly, "and didn't Professor Flitwick let her in earlier this evening at your urgent request? Hmm…perhaps she could open the door for you, then you needn't wake up the entire castle."

"She—isn't—answering me, you old bosom! _You_ open it, make yourself useful!"

"Certainly, if that is what you wish," Professor McGonagall said coldly. She rapped gently on the stone raven's knocker and it asked, "Where do Vanished objects go?"

"Into nonbeing, which is to say, everything," Professor McGonagall replied swiftly.

"Nicely phrased," the stone raven said, before allowing the door to swing open noiselessly.

Amycus appeared at once, barging violently onto the threshold, causing the few Ravenclaws who remained standing over Alecto's unconscious body to yelp wildly and dash up the spiral staircases and back into bed. He instantly screamed fearfully.

"ALECTO!" he shouted, "the little whelps, which one of them did it!? I'll Cruciate the lot of them…and what's the Dark Lord going to say?! We haven't got him, and they've gone and killed her!"

"She's only Stunned," Professor McGonagall said, looking down at Alecto, "She'll be perfectly alright."

"No she won't!" Alecto snarled, "not after the Dark Lord gets a hold of her! She sent for him, I felt the Dark Mark burn…and he thinks we've got Potter!"

"Got Potter?" Professor McGonagall replied sharply, "What d'you mean, 'got Potter'?"

"He told us Potter might try to get inside Ravenclaw Tower and to send for him if we caught him," Amycus sneered, "but…then again, I s'pose we can push it off n the kids…yeah, that's what we'll do…we'll have to say they forced her to press her Mark and then he can punish _them_. Couple of kids, what's the difference?"

"Only the difference between truth and lies, courage and cowardice," Professor McGonagall said dryly, going pale, "a difference, in short, in which you and your sister do not seem to appreciate. But let me make one thing clear—you are not going to pass off the blame onto the students of Hogwarts! I will not permit it."

"Excuse me?"

Professor McGonagall had certainly done it now. Nick winced a little, as Amycus roared, "It's not a case if what _you'll_ permit, Minerva McGonagall. Your time is up. You're precious Dumbledore is dead, whether you permit it or not."

He spat into her face menacingly.

Nick scowled, and then fought to keep the Cloak over Harry, who had wrenched it off of him, and jumped up, brandishing his wand, yelling dramatically, "You shouldn't have done that!"

"_Harry_!" Nick hissed in warning, but it was too late.

"_Crucio_!" Harry shouted. Nick had seen the effects of the Cruciatus Curse all too many times. Instantaneously, Amycus screamed in bitter pain, as he was lifted up into the air and then brought back down again, where he landed with a sickening crunch on the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw.

"Potter!" whispered Professor McGonagall, clutching her heart and staring wide-eyed at Harry, who wore a twisted look of revolting evil and was still pointing his wand at Amycus, who lay mangled and unconscious next to his sister.

"Potter, that was foolish of you," Professor McGonagall snapped, as she struggled to pull herself together, "Southwick, I should have thought better of you, leading him here, at _this_ time!"

"Er—sorry, Professor," Nick said hastily.

"He spat at you," Harry said, looking at Professor McGonagall.

"Potter, I—that was very—_gallant_ of you—but don't you realize…"

"Yeah, I do, Professor, Voldemort's on the way."

Professor McGonagall peered, terrified from Nick to Harry, muttering softly under her breath. Finally, she managed to muster, "You—you must flee, and you too, Southwick, the Carrows will be after you now…"

"I can't," Harry said simply, "There's something I need to do, Professor…"

He quickly asked Professor McGonagall if she had any inkling of where Ravenclaw's lost diadem would be, and she gave him the same information as everyone else had earlier.

"Potter, it was utter madness for you to enter the castle," she snapped furiously, "they will catch you for sure—"

"Professor, please," Harry pleaded, "I've got to get something…I'm acting on Dumbledore's orders…"

"_Dumbledore's _orders?" Professor McGonagall drew herself up to her full height and said finally, "Very well, Potter, we will hold He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named off while you search for this—this—object."

"Is that possible?" asked Harry.

"I think so," Professor McGonagall replied dryly, "we teachers are rather good at magic, you know."

"Er—right," was Harry's reply.

"Very well, then," Professor McGonagall declared, "we will have to barricade the castle…I must alert the other teachers…now I've got to take care of the Carrows…"

"Hold on, Professor," Nick said quickly, "I'll deal with them. You'd better take Harry with you as quickly as you can…I'll go back and tell the others to get ready."

"Very well, Southwick," Professor McGonagall replied, "and be back in the Great Hall in twenty minutes, at the very least."

She turned and left in a swish of tartan, Harry in her wake, leaving Nick standing before the two hideous, unconscious Carrow siblings. In triumph, Nick Summoned their wands from them and then muttered a few choice words and watched in glee as strong silver ropes appeared, binding them together. Finally, he Conjured a large silver net to entangle them together while hanging them from the ceiling.

As far as Nick was concerned, the Carrows' reign of cruelty was over, as he victoriously snapped their wands in half with his own, and littered their pieces on the ground below the hanging Carrows.

Professor McGonagall's set time limit of twenty minutes was half over when Nick had finally raced up through the staircases and to the Room of Requirement on the sixth floor. When the doors appeared for him, he burst through them and gasped at what he saw.

The Room was more crowded with people than it had ever been before. Many members of the Order were already assembled as well, standing near the students. Out of the corner of his eye, Nick could see Mrs. Weasley fussing over Ginny in the squashy armchairs that sat near the fire.

"NICK!" cried Laura as soon as he entered.

She ran up to him excitedly with Demelza, Ian, Sarah, and Christina. They all looked at him expectantly.

"Well," Demelza asked, looking around him, "where's Harry?"

"He's with McGonagall—they're preparing to barricade the school—"

"So we're fighting after all?" Ian asked brightly, "Brilliant!"

"Well, yeah, I s'pose we are," said Nick, "but listen—we've got to get everyone down to the Great Hall…"

Now everyone in the Room had stopped talking with each other and were all staring in Nick's direction, feeding off his every word. He was a little taken back at all the attention.

"What about the Carrows?" Christina asked.

"Oh, them," Nick said, feeling excited, "well—I took care of them…"

"How?!" Laura declared admiringly.

"Hmm…let's just say that they're hanging, bound in ropes, and nets above the Ravenclaw common room, with the broken pieces of their wands littered underneath them."

Everyone cheered. Ian thumped him on the back.

"Oooh," Sarah asked, "what about Snape?"

"I'm not sure," Nick replied, "but I reckon McGonagall and the others will have to do something about him if they plan to defend the school—"

"Defend the school?" asked Lupin, Nick's ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, werewolf, and Order of the Phoenix member, who was standing in the corner talking to Mr. Weasley and Kingsley.

"Well—er—the plan is…" Nick started.

"I think we'd all like to know," Mrs. Weasley said, looking up at him.

"You'll find out soon," Nick explained, "Professor McGonagall says everyone should go down to the Great Hall…they're going to try to evacuate the younger students out through Ariana's portrait…"

"Okay," Demelza said, "alright, then. Let's get the younger Muggle-born children out now…"

Obediently, Jordan and Laura forced through the crowd, and, moments later, they were pulling the hands of the youngest Muggle-born students, who had been sleeping in their dormitories previously.

Amongst the crowd, Nick could see Rosalie and Tiffany, Katrina's friends. Thankfully, they were puffy-eyed and oblivious to Katrina's absence.

"We'll be back," Laura said, directing the younger students down Ariana's passageway.

Without another word, she, and Jordan vanished, the young Muggle-borns following them to safety through the passageway.

"Well, come on, then," Nick said, gesturing to the crowd. A great majority of them followed him down to the Great Hall, where everyone was already gathered. The younger students were all sitting at their House tables, looking terrified.

The Staff table was empty, instead, all of the teachers were standing in front of them. Professor McGonagall was standing on a raised platform in front of the other teachers, and was taking charge. Nick glanced around at the school ghosts, which had gathered also. He could see the Grey Lady sitting at the Ravenclaw table, reassuring some terrified looking third year girls.

"The evacuation will be overseen by Mr. Filch and Madam Pomfrey," she said in a booming voice to every single eye (living or dead) that was watching her intensely in the Hall.

Looking around, Nick could see that Harry had finally appeared, filling in the back of the Hall, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"And what if we want to stay and fight!?" shouted Ian loudly from beside Nick.

Professor McGonagall looked at him, while there was a smattering of applause that rang throughout the Great Hall.

"If you are of age, you may stay," said Professor McGonagall finally.

"What about our things?" piped up a small girl at the Ravenclaw table, "our trunks, our owls?"

"The important thing is to get you out of here safely," said Professor McGonagall, "we have no time to collect possessions."

"Where's Professor Snape?" Demelza shouted.

"He has, to use the common phrase, done a bunk," replied Professor McGonagall. Everyone was cheering, except for the Slytherins. Demelza wasn't cheering either, until Ian gave her an expectant look, and she (most unconvincingly) clapped her hands.

"We have already placed protection around the castle," Professor McGonagall went on, "but it is unlikely that it will hold for a very long time if we don't reinforce it—therefore we must move very quickly—"

Suddenly, a terrifyingly cold deep voice broke out, silencing Professor McGonagall, as everyone looked around, horrified, trying to figure out the source of the voice.

"I know you are preparing to fight me," the cold voice spoke, causing several younger students to jump and hug each other in fright, "but it is futile. I do not wish to fight you, as I have a great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magic blood tonight. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be spared. Give me Harry Potter, and you shall be left untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded. You have one hour to decide."

When the voice subsided, the terrified whispers of the hundreds of students swarmed the hall. The undeniable truth that Voldemort himself was about to engage them was now dawning on them.

"Is it true?" Laura whispered to Nick, "was that really—_Voldemort_!?"

"I s'pose," Nick replied sadly.

"We'll never make it through the night if he's—"

"Laura, we've got to _try_."

"Don't worry," Christina said brightly, coming up to them, "the way I see it, we just have to hold him off until Harry gets the thing he needs. After that, he'll use it to defeat him, and then it'll be all over…"

Laura, apparently, was not that optimistic. She looked at Christina as though she were loosing her mind and said, "Christina, come on, Voldemort and his Death Eaters are highly trained wizards…and we're just—just _students_."

She said the last word rather venomously, and Nick said quickly, "But we have numbers. Voldemort doesn't have an army…and we've got the teachers…"

They looked up towards Professor McGonagall again, who seemed to have recovered from Voldemort's threat.

"Very well," she said, "prefects, you may lead your students into the Room of Requirement and out safely to Hogsmeade—"

She was rudely interrupted by Pansy Parkinson, who shrieked horribly from the Slytherin table, "But…_why_? If you want Potter, he's right there! Someone grab him!"

Instantly, Nick rose to his feet, along-side Ian, Laura, Demelza, and Christina, who had all drew their wands. They stepped defensively back towards Harry.

"That will do, Miss Parkinson," Professor McGonagall bellowed, "now if you will please follow the rest of your House out of the Hall with Mr. Filch."

Quickly, the Slytherins jumped to their feet and scurried out of the Hall, eager to leave the murderous students who were shooting them distrustful glances.

"It's not too late to leave, Demelza," said Ian quietly into Demelza's ear, for she had been watching her fellow Slytherins with a most odd expression. When Ian startled her, she jumped horribly, and shouted at him.

By the time the Slyherins had all left the Hall, and Professor McGonagall signaled that the Ravenclaw prefects should now lead the younger students out of the Hall. Nick, Laura, and Ian stepped forward to herd the students to safety, but Professor Flitwick got to them first.

"Stay," he squeaked, "we'll be needing your help sooner than later, I expect…the Ravenclaws can follow the Slytherins."

"Oh," Laura said, "alright…"

She looked faintly disappointed. Instead, Professor Flitwick shooed the Ravenclaws after the Slytherins, who were already climbing the staircases to reach the sixth floor.

Professor McGonagall looked vaguely out at the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors who soon followed Slytherin and Ravenclaw out of the Great Hall and then turned to the group of fighters who remained behind. Among the crowd, Nick could see many members of the Order, and the D.A. alike. His eyes glanced from person to person, and read instantly that fear was upon their gaze. On the contrary, many of them looked a great deal more nervous than they had during N.E.W.T.s.

Instantly, Professor McGonagall started giving out orders once more.

"We must act fast," she said, "we have decided on a battle plan. We must fight defensively. Professors Sprout, Flitwick, Sinistra and myself will be leading students to the highest towers in the school—Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Astronomy—where we expect to have an excellent overview and position from which to work spells.

"Arthur, Kingsley, Remus, and Molly will lead fighters on the grounds. Now, we'll also need groups of people to guard the passageways into the school…"

"Sounds like a job for us," Fred called, motioning to George, who sat beside him, looking excited.

"Very well," said Professor McGonagall, "however, you are only two—and there are many entrances to guard…perhaps we shall assign them. We know that the passage behind the statue of the one-eyed witch on the ground floor needs protecting. I suggest we send the two Mr. Weasleys and also Miss Clewley, if she permitted it—"

She glanced expectantly at Christina, who eagerly nodded her head.

Professor McGonagall smiled weakly, "There are also the two first floor passages and the dungeon entrance to be concerned about. Now, it is unlikely that the Death Eaters will seek entry through them, but even still, they could cripple us from the inside if they were to do so. Therefore, two teams must guard the two separate first floor entrances. Now, if I am getting no volunteers—"

She looked at the crowd of students, and, after no one called attention to themselves, she went on, "—then I will assign them. Mr. Szwidlo and Miss Ramirez will kindly guard one of the first floor passages, and Miss Fortin, Mr. Honeycutt, and Miss Bouchard—you will guard the other. As for entrance in the dungeons—it is less hidden, and, if our ground troops fail to stop the Death Eaters from advancing, they will be sure to enter it. I will need Mr. Southwick, Miss Donovan, and Miss Wardell to guard it. You must do everything you possibly can to prevent the Death Eaters from entering while Mr. Potter is searching for the—the object."

"Everyone else will be split up into four teams—the grounds team, and the teams that will defend Hogwarts from each of the towers. Professors Sprout, Sinistra and Mr. Longbottom will be leading teams to the Astronomy Tower. Professor Flitwick and Professor Dubois will take the Ravenclaw Tower, and myself and Professors Swanton and Thomas will defend from the Gryffindor Tower. We will now quickly divide up the teams—"

"WAIT!" called a voice from behind them. Everyone turned around frantically to see two more adults rush up to them. Nick had seen them both before on previous occasions—standing in front were Mr. and Mrs. DeLorenzo, still dressed in their Muggle mechanic uniforms. Mrs. DeLorenzo was twirling her long golden blonde hair happily, while beaming at them. Daniel's resemblance to his father was striking. Indeed, Mr. DeLorenzo was standing, his arm around his wife, regarding his two children (who had both rushed up to embrace their parents) with the upmost pride.

"Flew over in the van," Mr. DeLorenzo was saying loudly, "couple of Muggles might've seen us along the way—bit of a nasty shock for them—"

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly, and began hurriedly dividing up the remaining fighters into teams, wished them the best of luck, and then ordered them to their posts.

"Well," Laura said, as she walked out of the Great Hall with Sarah and Nick, "at least we aren't in the thick of the fighting…"

"We will be," Sarah replied grimly, "once the Death Eaters find a way to get through the door…"

But she trailed off after meeting Nick's wary gaze.

"We'll be fine, Laura," he said firmly as they trudged down to the dungeons. Beside them, Ian and Jordan were exchanging a rather passionate good bye, and Demelza was rolling her eyes, standing next to Dan and Nikki.

"Good luck," Demelza said weakly to her friends, "we'll see each other soon, I hope…"

"Listen," Laura said suddenly, "our entrance isn't hidden, and it's the widest…we may need help is the Death Eaters advance—we're all relatively close by…perhaps if we were to send a help signal…"

"Laura, it's not like we can just leave _our_ guard," Nikki snapped.

"Fine, let us die then," she retorted, "I was only trying to help—"

"Maybe we can," Dan said firmly, "but hopefully it won't come to that…"

They all stood around in a circle, looking at each other. What if…Nick could hardly keep the thought from his head…but what if this was the last time he would see some of their faces? Would they be willing to fight to the death? Nick looked around at his friends, and wasn't quite sure, but he certainly was assured of one thing—the Death Eaters sure would.


	19. Ch19Mysterious 'Death' of Harry Potter

Chapter 19 – The Mysterious 'Death' of Harry Potter Chapter 19 – The Mysterious 'Death' of Harry Potter

Nick, Laura, and Sarah finally shuffled through the crowd of anxious looking students who were about to fight Voldemort. Sticking close together, they set off for the dungeons, only to be stopped before reaching the first staircase.

"Nick! Hey—NICK!"

Nick reeled around, almost knocking Sarah to the ground. Running to catch up to him was Harry himself, looking quite anxious as well.

"Nick," he said finally, once they had stopped.

"What? Do you want me to take you to Ravenclaw Tower again?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Harry said quickly, "but I do need to know something—who's ghost of Ravenclaw?"

"Why, Harry, if you want help, I'm sure _we'd_ be happy to oblige, but—"

"No, Nick, it's got to be Ravenclaw's ghost."

"Oh, well," Nick answered, "that's the Grey Lady—see—"

He pointed over to where a group of ghosts were gliding off, conversing most mournfully with each other.

"—she's the one in the white dress, talking to the Fat Friar…"

"Oh, great, thanks!" Harry turned once more and dashed off to catch the Grey Lady. Laura turned to Nick and said, "I don't like it, Nick. He's too mysterious now…it's like he doesn't want our help, but we're all about to fight for him—to _die_ for him, most likely."

"Laura," Sarah said softly, "please don't say that…I think we stand a fighting chance…we've got each other, right Nick?"

She looked at Nick expectantly, who was watching Harry plead with the Grey Lady, who had lingered behind to speak with him.

"Oh—er—right," he said quickly, agreeing to whatever Sarah had said.

"There," Sarah replied, looking at Laura, who looked quite sullen, "it'll be _fine_, and besides, you're the best in our year…"

"C'mon," Nick said finally, after tearing his eyes off Harry, who seemed to be wearing a look of upmost excitement and revelation, "we should get off to the dungeons…"

The dismal lower layer of Hogwarts was just as bleak and dark as usual. They quickly passed the large portrait of Sazalar Slytherin, who was staring at them, looking sullen and crafty. Nick wondered if he, or any of the portraits knew that school was about to be under siege. They apparently looked blissfully unaware of anything, although Nick noticed that several of the portraits were empty, as they had most likely had gone off to get better views for the fighting.

"In here," Laura said, pointing her wand ahead, "I think this is the entrance Professor McGonagall was talking about…"

She was pointing to a rather large iron door, which was rusted and old, and had obviously not been used for some time.

"Okay," Sarah asked to the silence, "so what do we do now…just wait?"

"I s'pose…unless—"

Nick's last word was drowned out by a large explosion, which seemed to have originated from behind the dungeon's door.

Laura screamed loudly, and drew her wand.

"Hold on," Nick said, "they aren't in yet…Professor McGonagall said they would try it…maybe they'll give up…"

"We need a spell that will make the door stronger," Sarah said hurriedly, "but I don't remember…"

"Hmm, we could try…hey! I've got it!" Laura declared suddenly.

"What?"

"A Strengthening Solution!" she said quickly, "but we hardly have the necessary

ingredients…"

"Laura, we're in the dungeons!" Sarah said incredulously.

"What difference does that make?" she snapped.

"Laura, Potions classroom," Nick said, pointing to the door across the hall.

"Oh!"

"Only, d'you think it will be strong enough?" asked Sarah.

"I think so," Laura replied, "we'll just have to triple what the instructions say…"

When another loud explosion echoed from the other side of the door, Sarah said quickly, "JUST DO IT!"

"Okay—_Accio cauldron…accio _Advanced Potion Making…"

Obediently, a black cauldron and an old ripped potions textbook zoomed into her lap.

"Hurry," Sarah said nervously, pointing her wand at the door, which was shaking.

Nick could now hear the sound of muffled voices coming from the other side of the door, along with the cursing and spell casting.

Perhaps the grounds team had caught up with them…

THUD! Something loud crashed into the door, making the entire floor, ceiling and walls shake tremendously. Laura was looking frantically at the appropriate page of _Advanced Potion Making_, muttering Summoning Charms under her breath for its required ingredients.

"_Accio Lacewings…_"

THUD!

"_Accio bowtruckle legs_—"

"Laura, HURRY!" Sarah repeated, throwing her weight against the door, in attempts to block the Death Eaters' advancement on the other side.

"I'm TRYING!" Laura snapped back, "I'm a little of out practice—"

"WHAT!?"

"I know, I know, I'm working as hard as I can…"

Hastily, she finished Summoning the rest of the ingredients from the store cupboards and then looked down, her eyes darting throughout the instructions. She muttered them under her breath and wore a look of upmost anxiety.

The loudest thumping noise yet had sounded from the door, and Nick drew his wand, already thinking of ten possible spells that could hold off the Death Eaters if they were to break through.

Laura moved faster than Nick every thought possible. She began cramming in the ingredients without distraction and then finally added water from the tip of her wand, declaring loudly in relief, "It's finished."

"Give it here," Nick said, taking the cauldron from Laura's outstretched hands. Quickly, he rubbed the clumpy and rather sticky solution into the iron door, in which it seeped into immediately, thus, hopefully, strengthening it.

Almost instantaneously, the Death Eaters howled in fury as their latest attempt to break down the door failed, sending their curses right back at them. Nick smiled at Laura, and gave her unspoken thanks.

Before they could delight in their little victory, however, a strangled cry from above them silenced their appreciative talk. Laura looked terrified.

"That sounded like—"

But she didn't need to say it. Nick was sure they were all thinking the same thing. The strangled cry for help had indeed sounded like it had originated from above them, where Jordan, Nikki, and Dan had been placed to guard one of the first floor passageways. They quieted themselves immediately, and listened with all their might for another plea for help.

After several long moments of nothing, Laura finally looked relieved.

"Er—maybe it wasn't them."

She was silenced once more by an ear-piercing scream coming from above them, although, this time it had sounded an awful lot like, "NIKKI!"

Laura looked wildly at Nick, "We've got to _do_ something!"

"We can't just leave!" Sarah protested, looking terrified at the door behind her.

"Look, I'm sure they've got it under control—"

"NIKKI! DAN! SOMEONE HELP! _STUPEFY! CONJUNCTO!_"

"Okay," Nick thought aloud hastily, "someone stay here. I think the door's strong enough…but just in case…"

"I'll stay," Sarah said instantly.

"No!" Nick protested, "I'll stay, go help Laura—"

"But Nick—I'll need your help!" Laura looked at him desperately.

"I know," Nick replied, "but if Sarah's standing alone against the Death Eaters…"

"Look," Sarah said shortly, "you'll only be right above us…we may be the only ones who can help. If Jordan and the others have failed, the Death Eaters'll have gotten in anyway, so it wouldn't matter. I'll stay. Take Laura and go secure the entrance. If I need help, I'll call, you'd only be right above me…"

Obviously not wishing for him to protest further, Laura grabbed Nick by the arm and lead him up the staircase, allowing him one last fleeting look at Sarah, who stood, wand at the ready next to Laura's strengthened door.

When they reached the passageway that lead into the east side of the first floor, it was completely unrecognizable. Nick gasped and drew his was defensively over the gruesome scene. The wall had completely caved in, most likely by a blasting spell, cast by one of the Death Eaters. The wall was torn apart and pipes were leaking, sending jets of water onto several Death Eaters, who were laying unconscious (but most likely dead), scrambled about in the wreckage. But that wasn't all—buried in stone and wood, gasping for breath, was Nikki, who was being dug out by Jordan. More and more Death Eaters continued to spew from the large open whole in the wall, but they were being held back by Dan, who looked wild with rage, shooting spells desperately at the advancing enemy.

At once, Laura and Nick stepped forward to assist them, brandishing their wands furiously.

"_STUPEFY!_" Laura yelled in her rage, sending several large Death Eaters back out the broken wall, which lay in shambles among them.

"Lucky for you to show up," Dan muttered, while cursing a large blond Death Eater, who was spitting off curses like there was no tomorrow.

"What we need to do," Nick said quickly, "is fix the wall—"

"_ADVADA KED—"_

"PROTEGO!" Nick shouted at the blond Death Eater, who was blown back by the force of Nick's spell before he had time to finish his own.

"What we need," Jordan sputtered, after helping Nikki to her feet, "is to get her to a healing center or something—"

She glanced down at Nikki, who was struggling tremendously to free herself from the wreckage.

"No need," she snapped stubbornly, "it's just a broken leg—I think—and I don't need my leg to kill of these idiots."

She motioned wildly to the advancing Death Eaters. Suddenly, a large and bony female Death Eater stepped onto the scene, brandishing her wand and saying with a horrible accent, "Geet away from here, foolish cheeldren!"

Her presence alone took up almost the entire passageway that they were guarding. Most of the other Death Eaters had back away in fear, and Nick could easily see why. This lady seemed like a real brute, who was all to willing to take out all who was in her way, and Nick and his friends were standing right in front of her. She was, Nick knew at once, a giant. Probably full-giant, as she was the biggest person Nick had ever seen before in his life. She was about twenty-five feet tall, and enormously fat and hideous.

"_EXBLASTIA!_" she bellowed, not unlike Hagrid would have done. Although she may have sounded like Hagrid, the spell's power was like nothing Hagrid could ever dream of producing. Instantly, a bomb of pressure released from the tip of her wand, and an enormous blast covered Nick and the others with what was left standing of the passageway, flinging them back lazily like they were dolls.

Nick landed shiftily on his feet, however, a little further down the passageway, and supported Laura as she fell. Dan, however, fell with a sickening crunch on some exposed piping next to them. He rolled over, unconscious.

Jordan as well had been flung into the air lazily and had landed in a pile of wreckage, along-side Nikki, who was now completely swallowed up by wood, metal, stone, and piping.

As the large intimidating Death Eater who had cast the Blasting Spell stepped forward, and Nick and Laura stepped in her way, brandishing their wands defensively, she laughed.

"Better to step down now," she cackled, "then die as your leetle friends…"

Laura and Nick, however, did nothing. Instead, they began firing off every curse that came to mind at the enormous Death Eater, who flicked them away with flicks and swishes from her wand. She stepped forward, laughing still, as though she were completely enjoying herself and smacked Laura out of the way with her enormous fists.

"LAURA!" Nick screamed as she fell into the wreckage. He held his wand high, aiming to maim the large Death Eater—but she got to him first, smacking him across the face, and causing him to falter in his step. His enemy was apparently loosing her interest in beating on them, for she raised her wand, yelling at the top of her lungs, "AVADA—"

"NOOO!" two more people arrived at the scene immediately and pushed Nick, who was wobbling sickeningly on his feet in pain, out of the direction of the jet of green light, which instead smacked into a pile of wreckage, causing it to scatter everywhere.

"Wha—" Nick said feebly, looking up to see who had pushed him out of the way and saved him. Once his eyes registered, he saw Demelza kneeling above him, looking quite worried.

"Are you okay?" she asked nervously.

"Oh…" In absolute truth, Nick was not sure if he was indeed alright, as he felt extremely light-headed, but he was cut off as Demelza started whooping in appreciation.

Nick looked up to see Ian, who had just climbed the top of a pile of debris in order to position himself right next to the giant Death Eater's head.

Completely unaware of anything, the Death Eater drew her wand in the direction of Demelza and Nick, who were huddled against a large pile of wood in the corner of the wrecked passageway.

At once, Ian screamed in triumph and sprung himself from the pile of debris and landed right on the giant Death Eater's head. Raising his wand and pointing it directly at her head, Ian bellowed, "_IACIA_!"

It was like a large piece of lead had made contact with the giant Death Eater's thick skull, for a sickening crunch echoed throughout the destroyed passageway, and the Death Eater fell to the ground, with a loud thud, and Ian jumped gracefully off of its head.

"BRILLIANT!" Demelza cried excitedly, looking admiringly at Ian. He rushed over to them.

"Are you alright?"

"_I_ am," Demelza said, "but I think Nick got hit with—"

"IAN!" she was cut off by Nick's yell of warning. It was too late. Ian, his back turned to the giant Death Eater who was laying, quite unmoving where she had fell, gasped in shock, his eyes wide, as a jet of green light hit him squarely in the back, which had been cast nonverbally by the giant Death Eater, whose had now fell limply to her side, wand falling down onto the floor with a final, deafening clang.

"NOOOO!" Demelza screamed in horror as Ian fell to the ground, his eyes still wide with shock. She hit Ian hard, and waited for him to stir, but it didn't happen. Demelza turned, ashen-faced to Nick, and then started bawling, falling to the ground.

Nick looked at her helplessly, and then looked towards Ian, who lay peacefully on the ground beside them. It wasn't fair. Yet, as much as Nick wanted to stay there forever and wallow in his grief, he knew that they had to finish the battle, they had to, ultimately, help Harry find his object so Voldemort could be defeated, and then there would be no more Death Eaters, or fighting, or traitors.

"Demelza?" Nick said softly, "listen—we've got to find the others—"

"And what? Add them to the list of the dead?" she turned around to him, face wild, and wet with tears, "why, Nick? Why did we have to listen to stupid Harry anyway—he doesn't really care? All he cares about is his stupid mission…sure, defend the castle, if it means carelessly throwing away our lives—what does it matter, just as long as he does his _mission_ and doesn't tell us what the heck—"

"Demelza, please," Nick said, "you're forgetting. Harry wouldn't want any of us to die. Now stop. I don't think Ian would've wanted you to be like this—we've got to finish sealing the castle from the Death Eaters—"

"Fine," Demelza said, shakily getting to her feet, looking fleetingly at Ian's body, "then we'll do it. We'll keep fighting…"

They quickly assessed their situation, and upon looking around, they discovered (to their delight) the giant Death Eater had re-sealed the open passageway with debris when she had cast her Blasting Spell.

Upon searching, they also were able to locate all of their friends. Laura and Dan were still unconscious when they found them, but Nikki was fighting to keep her head above the wreckage, before Demelza and Nick were able to clear it out and free her.

"Thanks," she mustered as they supported her to safety, "although—I really think my leg's broken, I can't walk…"

"_Ferula_," Nick said glumly, pointing at Nikki's leg, which instantly became wrapped in bandages and a splint, much to her appreciation.

Thankfully, when they finally found Jordan, she was unconscious as well, as she was spared the agony of learning of Ian's fate until she awoke. They quickly decided to take their injured friends to the dungeons, where they could wait with Sarah, who was still guarding the door.

"Thank goodness," Sarah breathed in relief as Nick and Demelza hurried down, supporting Nikki, Dan, Laura, and Jordan, "I was beginning to think…"

Nick glanced mournfully at Demelza, and when their gaze met briefly decided not to tell Sarah about Ian until after the battle. Instead, the reported their good news.

"The passages in the first floor are sealed for good," Demelza said exasperatingly, "I don't think any Death Eaters will try it—it appears as though they've got enough to deal with on the grounds."

True enough, several battle cries and raised voices were emitting from the other side of the dungeon door. Once about fifteen minutes had passed, Laura, Jordan, and Dan all had feebly stirred. When Jordan had seen Demelza, predictably, she asked wildly where Ian was, and the silent somber expressions on Nick's and Demelza's faces told her everything she needed to know. Upon realizing the truth, she and Laura hugged each other clingingly and burst into tears, along with Dan as well, who looked quite saddened.

They were just deciding about what they should do next when the same horrific voice of Voldemort spoke to them once more. Laura and Jordan drew closer to each other in fright.

"You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish for this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your wounded.

"I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you, rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, you have not given up, then the battle recommences. And this time, I will enter it myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."

Nick looked out worriedly at his friends. He didn't know exactly what to feel. It was a relief, of course that the battle would be halted, but then again, the thought of Voldemort appearing himself to finish the battle was not very comforting either. Sarah broke the silence, however, shattering Nick's thoughts.

"Well, perhaps we should go the Great Hall…I s'pose Professor McGonagall's going to set up base from there…"

No one said anything, but simply shrugged their shoulders and trudged wearily to the Hall. Once they entered, a sickening swoop resounded in Nick's stomach. Directly in front of them, laying in a line, appearing as though they were sleeping peacefully under the enchanted ceiling, lay the ones who had perished during the battle. Curious, but not wanting to find out either, Nick turned his gaze downwards and saw the Weasleys spread across someone's body, all of them shaking with grief. Beside them lay the peaceful bodies of Lupin and Tonks.

"Southwick!" a voice distracted him for a moment and he reeled around, finding himself face to face with Professor McGonagall, who looked quite winded, her hair disheveled and cloak torn and singed in several areas.

"Yes?"

"I understand you are aspiring to become a healer," she said simply, which shocked Nick a little, "we have need of you. Follow me."

Nick glanced back at the others, and gave them a half-smile and then turned after Professor McGonagall, who led him swiftly up to the giant floating platform, which was full of wounded fighters. Nick could see Madam Pomfrey circling about, dapping on various ointments and medicines on to wounds. Beside her, Professor Swanton was also slaving about, tapping her wand on Nikki's leg, mending it instantly. In the corner of the platform, Firenze was laying, blood spewing from a deep cut across his chest, and Professor Sinistra, all dignity forgotten, was laying over him, bawling.

"Mr. Southwick?" Madam Pomfrey asked, "we'll be needing your help—if you could please tend to Miss Doucette—"

Nick hurried over to where she was pointing and eagerly began dapping some ointment gently onto a rather nasty looking cut on Sarah's leg.

The raised platform gave him a spectacular view of the packed Hall, and Nick could see Harry, Ron and Hermione now entering. The survivors, Nick noted, stood around in tight-knit groups, placing their arms around each other.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nick was relieved to see Erin, Patrick, Christina, Mary, Daniel, and Mr. and Mrs. DeLorenzo talking fervently with each other. Next to them, another close-knit circle of Hogwarts students—including Luna, Seamus, Parvati, and Dean were conversing gravely.

Nick's eyes flirted at glancing down at the dead, whose line was gradually becoming long and longer as many more bodies were brought in by surviving students, who carried them into the Hall. Nick wondered vaguely if anyone had found Ian yet…but immediately forced himself to return to Sarah Doucette who was coming round. Thinking about Ian was painful.

Nick was not sure how long the relative peace could last. If Voldemort did indeed resume the battle in an hour (he was quite sure that Harry would not surrender to him), it would get even worse. They had lost nearly half of their fighters. Nick knew that Voldemort himself would show no mercy…would they all go down the same way as Ian? As Jade? As the countless others who had already died in the war against Voldemort?

Hogwarts itself was crumbling. The Death Eaters had already smashed their way through the ancient historic old school, destroying the entrances, smashing down the walls. Hogwarts would never be the same.

Even still, Nick was secretly glad that he had not been on the outside fighting—with the grounds team, yet if the battle were to resume, that was probably where everyone would be positioned. Would they have any chance of survival?

That hour passed as the slowest and most foreboding hour in Nick's life. He busied himself intensely with Madam Pomfrey, laboring to save the wounded fighters, yet he couldn't distract himself from the pain and the nervousness he was feeling before he had to charge out into the grounds with his friends and fight Voldemort himself—along with all the monstrosities that he was sure to have under his command.

Slowly, the time ticked away until finally, Professor McGonagall stood up from where she was talking with Mrs. Weasley, and said loudly, "It is time. Would you please assemble into your teams as we intend to combat them on the grounds."

Nick had been waiting for it. He gave a swift good-bye to Madam Pomfrey, who thanked him for his help, and then left the raised platform with Professor Sinistra (who had exchanged a rather tearful good-bye to Firenze), and Professor Swanton to join his friends, who were already exiting the Great Hall.

"Just stay close to each other," whispered Laura as they left together.

Nick nodded his agreement and then opened the doors to the Entrance Hall and filed out into the cold early morning air.

It was still pitch black outside. Nick expected that the sun shouldn't rise for another hour or two. Midnight, and his Astronomy test seemed so far away, like a whole other lifetime, even.

The grounds were empty, save for the littered pieces of the school, which had fallen off during the battle, and the bodies of both Death Eaters, and the Order members alike.

Voldemort had not appeared yet, although he had already sent his minions, including a dark cloud, which was actually hundreds of dementors that swooped down on them as they re-entered the battlefield.

"_Expecto Patronum!_" Nick gasped, thinking of when the battle would finally be over and they would have peace.

Instantly, a tall silvery giraffe erupted from the tip of his wand and launched itself at the dementors, who were quickly driven away. Laura too, had been able to produce her Patronus (a cat) which danced merrily along with Nick's silvery giraffe until the dementors were driven from view altogether.

Everyone stood around, waiting for Voldemort to unleash his Death Eaters, but it never happened. Instead, a horrible crying sound filled the air and Voldemort appeared on the scene, pale and snake-like, and trailing behind him were his faithful Death Eaters…but on such a rare occasion that one got to see Voldemort in the flesh, he, surprisingly was not getting any of the attention. No, instead, every single eye was fixed upon Hagrid, who had come out of the Forest, bellowing with tears, weeping, holding a limp body in his hands.

Once Nick finally got a better look, he wished he hadn't. Laying limp in Hagrid's arms, clearly dead, was Harry—the Boy Who Lived—the symbol for everything they were fighting for.


End file.
